Good morning, it’s Monday.
Today is going to be very strange – a juxtaposition of the ridiculous and the sublime, one might say – as Donald Trump is sworn in to serve a second four-year term in the White House (with a four-year hiatus in between), and the country pauses to observe and (ostensibly) engage in a day of service in memory of the slain civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The inauguration and MLK Day have only coincided twice before, and both times when Democrats were taking the oath of office – once for Barack Obama (2013), and prior to that, for Bill Clinton (1997). It isn’t expected to occur again until January 2053.
It seems like there should perhaps have been more instances of overlap, but when you consider the fact that MLK Day has only been a federal holiday in 1983, and wasn’t recognized by all 50 states until 2000, it’s not so surprising. This day always takes place the third Monday in January, as it is near – but not on – MLK’s birthday (Jan. 15).
Inauguration Day, meanwhile, has been held on Jan. 20 since the 20th Amendment was passed in 1933. Before that, presidents were sworn in during the far warmer and more reasonable (from an outside celebration perspective) month of March.
The Trump inauguration is going to be unusual also in that it has been moved indoors due to a forecast of below-freezing temperatures. It was also the weather that forced the last president who moved his Day One celebrations inside – Ronald Reagan in 1985 – to make the same decision. (FWIW, we also have Reagan to thank for making MLK Day a federal holiday).
As as aside, I don’t think this day is ever balmy – expecting January to cooperate with a national desire for pomp and circumstance and be unseasonably warm is a crapshoot, to say the least. I covered the inaugurations of both Obama I and Obama II, and, as I recall it, they were both freezing cold, though perhaps not historically so.
I could not feel my feet for hours after all was said and done, in part because the press had to hoof it to the Capitol as a result of all the closed streets in order to show up hours early and stand in an insanely long line to go through security. I wore layers upon layers (keeping in mind that I did need to look at least semi-presentable for numerous live TV shots), used hand and foot warmers, and drank lots of hot liquids.
In the end, however, I was a block of ice. I stood in the shower until the hot water ran out and I was still shivering.
I am not sorry that I don’t have to go through all that again. I have, however, been thinking a lot about the inauguration and what MLK might have made of our next president. (Not much, according to his former speechwriter).
A number of Democratic elected officials, prominent business leaders, Black activists and advocates are skipping the inauguration, with some saying that they will instead be observing MLK Day by engaging in acts of service. Whether Trump will even acknowledge the fact that the two days are colliding is anyone’s guess. (I bet not, but I’ve been wrong about The Donald plenty of times before).
One thing is certain, there will be far less protest in response to Trump’s swearing-in than there was the first time around. A lot of Democrats are just, well, quite frankly, tired of it all. All that opposing and yelling and demanding one’s rights is exhausting. With everything going on in the world, it’s hard not to blame people for wanting to hang it up for the next four years.
My former LCA colleague Karen DeWitt wrote an excellent Times Union column about why we need to stay engaged – or, at the very least, explaining why SHE intends not to shut down and tune out. I highly recommended it for the demoralized and downhearted among us.
The weather certainly isn’t making things any easier when it comes to trying to put a positive spin on things. It’s going to be sunny, but bitter cold, with temperatures struggling to get into the 20s.
Snow was falling in the Mid-Atlantic and New York City yesterday. The coldest air in several years will descend across much of the country starting Monday, forecasters said.
Dig out your woolies!
In the headlines…
The first three hostages released from Gaza have arrived in Israel, the military announced yesterday, hours after the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took hold. Their mothers were waiting to meet them.
Hours after three Israeli women were released from captivity in Gaza on Sunday, roughly 90 Palestinian prisoners were freed, Israel’s prison service said in a statement, as a long-awaited cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas went into effect.
President-elect Donald Trump told supporters “four long years of American decline” would end with his inauguration, promised he would sign a number of executive orders, including on immigration, and repeal President Biden’s executive actions “within hours.”
The president-elect opened his inauguration eve rally – Before the rally — his first such event in the city since an address at the Ellipse shortly before a mob of his supporters attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 – by simply declaring to the crowd, “We won.”
He also revisited many of his favorite campaign talking points and falsehoods, briefly called Elon Musk to the stage, and announced he would visit California on Friday to tour wildfire damage.
A day before his inauguration, Trump hosted a private breakfast with Republican senators at Blair House, the 19th century mansion across the street from the White House which serves as the president’s exclusive guesthouse, often used by world leaders.
On the streets of the nation’s capital, some of the most passionate members of Trump’s populist base were feeling a bit frustrated about all the canceled plans while tribes of Trump-loving elites partied wildly all around them but just out of reach.
Trump, on Day 1, reportedly plans to suspend security clearances of the 51 intelligence officials who claimed reporting tied to Hunter Biden’s laptop had “the classic earmarks” of Russian disinformation ahead of the 2020 election.
Ethics experts gasped when Trump and his family pushed a new crypto token called $Trump. Yesterday they put out another: “You can buy $MELANIA now,” the soon-to-be first lady posted on social media, sharing a link to Melaniameme.com.
TikTok restored service yesterday after Trump said he would issue an executive order to pause the ban on the wildly popular app.
A man was arrested in connection with a fire set early yesterday in response to “recent talks” of banning TikTok, the authorities said. The fire was at a strip mall that includes a district office of a Wisconsin congressman who has been critical of the app.
Biden pardoned five activists and public servants yesterday, including a posthumous grant of clemency to the civil rights leader Marcus Garvey, who mobilized the Black nationalist movement and was convicted of mail fraud in 1923.
Biden also commuted the sentence of two people who are serving sentences for crimes that they committed in the 1990s that would keep them behind bars for the rest of their lives.
Biden spent his final full day in office in South Carolina, a state he credits for helping catapult him to the White House and where he returned in his final hours as president to urge his supporters to stay engaged in the fight for a more just nation.
On July 13, 2024, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer made a blunt case to Biden that he needed to drop his bid for a second term, saying, “If I were you, I wouldn’t run, and I’m urging you not to run.”
Crews continued making progress battling the deadly infernos burning in LA County during a brief reprieve from dangerous fire weather over the weekend, but Southern California now is bracing for another round of fire-fueling Santa Ana winds.
The National Weather Service has issued a warning of a “ particularly dangerous situation ” for parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties from this afternoon through tomorrow morning due to low humidity and damaging winds.
When 70 mph winds are raining embers into suburban communities so achingly vulnerable to fire, extreme blazes are an inevitability that no number of firefighters can control.
The aftermath of the Eaton and Palisades fires are revealing even more tragedy, as the death toll has increased again to 27.
Hundreds of New Yorkers are flocking to DC for Trump’s inauguration — with the fired-up GOPers even talking about winning the governorship again for the first time in a generation next year.
Trump is expected to issue an executive order to ban or restrict new offshore wind farms — a potential blow to states such as New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts that are depending on the clean energy to help meet what critics call pie-in-the-sky goals.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has ordered flags in the state to fly at full-staff today for Trimp’s inauguration as the nation remains in a mourning period to honor former President Jimmy Carter.
“Tomorrow, we are all Americans as we observe the centuries-old traditions of Inauguration Day,” Hochul said in a statement to The NY Post.
New York is keeping secret its plan for new taxes and fees to fund $33 billion for the flailing Metropolitan Transportation Authority even as Hochul is set to propose her budget tomorrow.
Widespread concerns over public safety in New York have raised difficult questions this year for Hochul and state lawmakers, who are now targeting people who exhibit signs of mental illness and commit crimes as a crisis that needs to be addressed.
A year after the idea died during state government budget talks, Hochul is proposing to invest state funds in a Thoroughbred safety initiative adjacent to Belmont Park.
A new advocacy group — Phone Free New York — has raised six figures for its campaign to persuade Hochul and lawmakers to approve a law to bar mobile-phone usage during the school day.
Democrats in the state Legislature are renewing a push to mandate that all eggs sold in New York are from free-range producers who do not keep them in cages.
Federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York announced that they’re no longer pursuing their bribery case against former New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin.
Talk of a cap-and-invest plan release deadline was stripped from the governor’s State of the State address at the last minute, upsetting environmentalists.
Hochul’s administration quietly doubled the price tag to renovate the crumbling grand staircase to the state Capitol building — jacking it up to a whopping $80 million.
Taylor Swift’s ordeal with a stalker has inspired a New York state bill that would track mentally ill defendants in low-level cases and help them get treatment — in hopes that they’ll be less likely to be busted again.
A New York driver who says he’s fed up with E-ZPass tolls has launched an online petition to change the system, including congestion pricing — and has already garnered thousands of backers.
DOCCS is moving to make permanent updates to its policies governing the use of body cameras after several officers and their supervisors had their devices turned off during a deadly beating of an inmate at Marcy Correctional Facility last month.
State Sen. Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat who’s been working on WiGS for more than 15 years, has introduced another bill to allow those who enjoy wine to go to the same store for a bottle of chard as a bunch of Swiss chard.
Mayor Eric Adams on Saturday doubled down on defending his Florida meeting with Trump, claiming he was “fighting for” New Yorkers, as fellow Democrats accused him of cozying up to Trump to get a presidential pardon for his federal corruption case.
Adams said his meeting with Trump on Friday included discussions of bringing manufacturing jobs back to the city and the Gaza ceasefire deal — but not the mayor’s federal bribery case.
Joining Adams and the president were longtime Adams adviser Frank Carone, who was instrumental in setting up the meeting, Trump’s son Eric and New York developer Steve Witkoff, whom Trump tapped as his Middle East envoy.
In a new court filing, Adams’ defense lawyer accuses now-former U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of plotting criminal charges against the mayor in an effort to run for mayor himself. The filing was first reported by the New York Post.
The lawyer, Alex Spiro, wrote a letter to the judge overseeing the case, arguing that a recent opinion article by the former prosecutor could prejudice the jury pool against Adams and was part of Williams’s plan to run for mayor or another political office.
Adams, facing a rough reelection that coincides with his federal corruption trial, seems to be running his re-election effort by doing his day job at City Hall. He has no formal campaign structure to speak of.
Adams’ attorneys are requesting that a civil lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault be dismissed on the basis that the woman who filed it is in bankruptcy proceedings.
An ill-fated run against a Black opponent nearly ended the career of Andrew Cuomo. As he weighs challenging Adams, the former governor cannot afford a repeat.
Seeking a second term largely unopposed, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg may not face significant challenges on the campaign trail this year, but he’ll be running for reelection in a supercharged political environment that’s seen the legal system come under attack.
The City of Yes, a new rezoning plan for the five boroughs, aims to remove long-outdated barriers to building housing and to spread development across all the city’s neighborhoods.
The troubled Metropolitan Detention Center jail in Brooklyn has just two doctors on staff to care for its more than 1,100 inmates, and an opening for a third physician has gone unfilled for nearly a decade.
A New York City bus driver missed a turn and crashed through a low stone wall near an overpass on Friday morning, bringing the vehicle to a stop with its front end hanging over the road below, the police said. There were no injuries.
Hochul on Friday announced she selected an attorney to join the Berne Town Board, a decision that could put an end to the months-long administrative paralysis that began in August when three members of the five-person board resigned.
City code officials shut down the Grill Mediterranean Cuisine and Mega Istanbul Food Court on River Street in Troy on Saturday after someone was shot during a fight there in the early morning hours, police said.
Despite residents’ traffic concerns, the controversial Mill Town Centre, a 507-apartment, 19-building complex on Rowland Street in Milton, will be built.
State Police are investigating after two people were struck in the head within the past month near the state Capitol.
David Schneiderman, an editor turned publisher turned chief executive of The Village Voice, whose 28-year tenure ran from its era of downtown-bestriding indispensability to a long, slow fade in the internet era, died in Edmonds, Wash., near Seattle. He was 77.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
