Good morning, it’s Monday. There are 20 days until Kwanza, 18 days until Christmas, 8 days until the first night of Chanukah, which will last through Dec. 22.
In other words, you have tons of time to get your gift-buying act together for Kwanza and/or Christmas, but not so much if you happen to celebrate the Festival of Lights.
I have one foot in the Christmas camp and the other in the Chanukah camp, and so I’m both relaxed and frazzled at the same time. (Really, all I need to do for the latter is make sure I have enough candles in the house to last eight days, but some years I fail even at this very minor task).
I was toying this year with making a gift list, but I found the whole concept depressing. There are things I need and want, and I think that I prefer to simply buy them myself. Where is the fun in knowing what you’re getting before you even open the box? I like to be surprised – even the possibility that the gift will be something I neither like nor need kind of adds to the fun.
Today, by the way, is so-called “Green Monday”, which was coined as such way back in the day (2007) by eBay. “Green” in this case refers not to sustainability, but rather money. According to eBay, this is the day – the second Monday in December – that most shoppers wake up and have an “oh, shit!” moment, realizing that they better get cracking on working through their holiday gift list.
That year, the online marketplace experienced one of its busiest sales days. All told, online sales in 2007 on Green Monday totaled $881 million, which was a 33 percent increase from the prior year.
Green Monday is not to be confused with Cyber Monday, which is the Monday following Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Small Business Saturday. Cyber Monday is the first major online shopping day of the holiday season, which retailers try to capitalize on by offering special deals and promotions.
For comparison’s sake, consider this: Shoppers spent $14.25 billion on Cyber Monday this year, making it the biggest online sales day in history. This was boosted in part by the “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) offerings that have become increasingly popular and are riddled with pitfalls for unsay consumers (especially young people) as they vary widely when it comes to interest rates and fees.
For some reason, I had difficulty finding Green Monday sales figures for 2024, but did find a reference to the fact that about $3.3 billion was expected to be spent on that in 2019. That’s a very big number, but not really when you consider the fact that same year, shoppers dropped $7.43 billion on Black Friday and $9.42 billion on Cyber Monday.
Also, as we’ve previously discussed in this space, while you SHOULD get your shopping done early to maximize the likelihood of your shipped packages getting to their intended destination on time, you still have a little bit of breathing room if you’re using the US Postal Service (Dec. 17 – 20 are your drop-dead dates) and even longer (Dec. 23-24) if you’re willing to pay a premium for FedEx.
Today will be sunny – a nice change of pace – but also cold, with temperatures topping out only int he low 20s. There are no major storms in the near future, which is also nice, though I’m sure that’s not going to last.
In the headlines…
Top Democrats called yesterday for the release of classified video of the U.S. military’s first operation targeting a boat in the Caribbean in early September, an attack that has faced heavy scrutiny in part for its follow-up strike that killed two survivors.
A federal judge on Saturday night threw up a roadblock to the Justice Department’s plans to seek another indictment against James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, as early as next week.
If you’re hoping to visit a national park for free next year, plan accordingly: Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth are out, and Trump’s birthday — paired with Flag Day on June 14 — is in.
Trump on Saturday celebrated a star-studded lineup of the nation’s most “acclaimed and renowned” performers as he gave out newly-minted medals to this year’s Kennedy Center Honorees in the Oval Office.
It had the look of a traditional Kennedy Center Honors ceremony, but after Trump’s unprecedented overhaul of the D.C. arts institution and with the commander in chief making history as the show’s host, change was in the air at this awards gathering.
Past presidents have attended the marquee event, but Trump was the first to host it, putting his cultural takeover of Washington in sharp relief.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), once a staunch supporter of Trump’s MAGA agenda, now suggested she no longer associates herself with that label.
A federal vaccine committee has recommended ending the decades-long guidance that all newborns be immunized at birth against hepatitis B, the highly infectious virus that can lead to chronic liver disease in infected children.
Netflix’s blockbuster $83 billion deal to buy the studio and streaming businesses of Warner Bros. Discovery, announced on Friday, sent shock waves through Hollywood.
The deal set off concerns about the future of theatrical releases. It also left many questions about the future of the storied HBO brand.
Vanity Fair will be parting ways with Olivia Nuzzi, the magazine’s short-lived West Coast editor, in an effort to extricate itself from a storm of controversy over her past romantic relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke out against the massive merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern that could be headed for approval from President Trump’s administration.
Gov. Kathy Hochul once again vetoed the Grieving Families Act, a bill that would have changed New York’s wrongful death statute by letting families sue for emotional damages, saying it would have sent insurance premiums spiraling.
Hochul on Friday vetoed a bill that would have allowed Onondaga County residents to travel toll-free on the New York State Thruway at six interchanges in the county.
Hochul pushed back on Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s call for an end to homeless encampment sweeps, saying she “does not believe that allowing New Yorkers to sleep on sidewalks or under bridges is a humane solution to homelessness.”
Hochul said last week that Mamdani cannot arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after Mamdani’s repeated vows to do so if the Israeli leader visits.
Tax hikes under consideration by Hochul and other moderate Democrats to satisfy Mamdani and his radical comrades will cause a mass exodus of New Yorkers if implemented, according to former Republican Gov. George Pataki.
Mamdani offered advice to illegal immigrants on how to evade ICE in a video message yesterday, calling on illegal immigrants to “stand up” to the federal agents and “know your rights.”
“Last weekend, ICE attempted to raid Canal Street and detain our immigrant neighbors,” Mamdani said in a video on X. “As mayor, I’ll protect the rights of every single New Yorker. And that includes the more than 3 million immigrants who call this city their home.
Hundreds of people gathered at a Queens playground yesterday to protest the federal government’s forced separation of a 6-year-old migrant boy from his father after the two were arrested last month amid President Trump’s deportation crackdown.
ICE officials are denying hygiene products, clean clothing and attorney phone calls to detainees in holding facilities in Lower Manhattan, in violation of a federal judge’s orders, attorneys and detainees allege in new court filings.
New York City Public Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos made the case Friday for Mamdani to keep her at the helm of the nation’s largest school district, just days after the mayor-elect signaled she was still under consideration for the post.
Mamdani will be the rare city leader whose cultural upbringing was both cosmopolitan, as the son of the Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mira Nair and the scholar Mahmood Mamdani, and local, imbued with a distinctly streets-of-New York energy.
Former Correction Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi — a longtime soft-on-crime, juvenile-justice activist — is one of 20 appointees named to the socialist pol’s transition committee for criminal legal services.
Mayor Adams has been cooperating with the city corruption watchdog’s investigation into possible violations of ethics laws, his spokesperson said Friday.
Adams, who has championed homelessness encampment sweeps since taking office in 2022, pushed back against Mamdani’s stance to end the, warning that doing so would “create a quality-of-life nightmare.”
Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro has submitted his resignation — and couldn’t help but take a dig at incoming lefty Mamdani.
Lisa White, a longtime pal of Mayor Adams who was appointed to a plum gig at the NYPD — and made nearly $300,000 last year – is retiring.
Chi Ossé, a far-left New York City councilman, confirmed on Friday that he was officially pulling the plug on a primary challenge against Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander pleaded not guilty to a violation stemming from a protest against the conditions migrants are being held in at 26 Federal Plaza, and spoke possibly hitting the campaign trail and the courtroom in the new year.
The City Council’s Ethics Committee is expected to vote as soon as next week to formally censure Councilwoman Inna Vernikov for openly carrying a gun at an October 2023 pro-Palestinian protest.
New York City’s housing authority said it would begin issuing delayed Section 8 rental assistance program payments to landlords on Monday after a disruption linked to the recent federal government shutdown.
After train operators are involved in fatal strikes, the agency that runs New York City’s subway often leaves them to fend for themselves.
NYPD brass are using department cars to evade tolls while driving to work — even as thousands of furious commuters are forced to pay steep congestion-pricing fees, according to a whistleblower lawsuit.
New York City health department officials are concerned after recently released data showed a slight uptick in HIV cases – which comes as the federal government proposes cutting funding to HIV treatment and prevention programs.
A man detained at the Rikers Island jail complex died early yesterday after being taken to the hospital, New York City Department of Correction officials said.
Just months after giving $50 million to promote contemporary dance at Manhattan’s Lincoln Center, philanthropists Lynne and Richard Pasculano announced that they were giving an equal amount to endow the library’s adult education programs.
A disconnected hydraulic fuel hose caused a catastrophic 2023 Manhattan crane collapse that injured 12, including three firefighters, a two-year probe by the Department of Buildings has found.
For the past three months, staff at the Manhattan Psychiatric Center have been “nonchalantly” trudging dangerous inmates through the facility’s non-criminal side to get them some fresh air since a plumbing mishap conked out the facility’s elevators.
Hundreds of thousands of work orders for NYC buses flagged for inspection or repairs show no recorded labor hours by MTA maintenance crews, raising the possibility buses are being put into service without critical repairs or required inspections.
A 66-year-old man from Florida has reportedly been charged with murder in the death of a woman whose body was found close to her 2-year-old child’s near the Gilgo Beach serial killer’s dumping grounds on Long Island.
The Egg announced its reopening following a historic $19.5 million renovation. Dubbed a “rehatching” by executive director Diane Eber, it will open its doors on Jan. 8 with a ribbon cutting and free performances.
Many colleges are now issuing acceptance letters to entire graduating classes. But Russell Sage College has them beat: it recently handed out pre-acceptance letters to fifth graders.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany officially welcomed its new bishop, Mark O’Connell, during an Installation Mass at St. Edward the Confessor Church in Clifton Park on Friday.
It’s been nearly three weeks since Schenectady City Council members interviewed 16 city residents for a vacant council seat, and there’s no indication of when the panel plans to formally discuss or approve an appointment.
As she prepares to leave office after three terms, the first woman to run New York’s capital city – Kathy Sheehan – looks back on a legacy of “singles and doubles”.
A day after the Albany Med Health System announced a significant leadership change, very little was publicly known about what prompted the sudden exit of CEO Dr. Dennis P. McKenna in favor of the system’s board chair Daniel T. Pickett III.
A State Police investigator based in New York City is facing criminal charges after he allegedly crashed his personal car and fled while driving drunk in Westchester County.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
