Cuomo signs law making it harder to file lawsuits to stifle free speech

Cuomo signs law making it harder to file lawsuits to stifle free speech

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a new law Tuesday making it harder for the rich and powerful to file nuisance lawsuits to stifle free speech and intimidate critics.

The new law targets “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” known as SLAPPs, usually brought forth by wealthy plaintiffs to hamper free speech.

Typically expensive and time consuming, these filings have been wielded by individuals seeking to oppress free speech, like Harvey Weinstein — who threatened to sue the New York Times for defamation after the newspaper published an expose on the disgraced movie tycoon’s history of sexual harassment.

November 12, 2020 Morning

Good morning! Happy Thursday. Two weeks to Thanksgiving πŸ¦ƒ. Clouds ☁️ and 47 degrees walking home from the post office. βœ‰ There is a northwest breeze at 10 mph. πŸƒ. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Sunday around 1 am. β˜ƒοΈ

Heading back from the post office now πŸ“¬ after dropping off the paper work πŸ“„ I needed to mail. Good excuse to rid of that endless supply of nickels I have laying around in my truck. βšͺCoins are worth so little money πŸ’΅ these days they’re virtually just garbage. πŸ—‘ Plus I got a nice walk 🚢🏻 out of it.

Unlike the past week it’s a lot cooler and gray ☁️but hardly frigid for November.

Today will have a slight chance of showers before 11am. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 51 degrees at 1pm. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 9th. Northwest wind 7 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 33 degrees. The record high of 68 was set in 1909. 7.3 inches of snow fell back in 1968.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:40 am with sun having an altitude of 29.5Β° from the due south horizon (-41.3Β° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 10.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour πŸ… starts at 3:55 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (239Β°). πŸ“Έ The sunset is in the west-southwest (246Β°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:36 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 11 seconds with dusk around 5:05 pm, which is 59 seconds earlier than yesterday. πŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:41 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 50 degrees. There will be a north-northwest breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 51 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 14 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌀, with a low of 33 degrees at 3am. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 11th. North wind 3 to 7 mph. In 2019, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 14 degrees. The record low of 13 occurred back in 1981.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. πŸ˜• Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 46. West wind 7 to 15 mph. Sunday, showers likely, mainly after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 53. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Typical average high for the weekend is 49 degrees.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Thanksgiving πŸ¦ƒ when the sun will be setting at 4:24 pm with dusk at 4:55 pm. On that day in 2019, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 58 and 34 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 44 degrees. We hit a record high of 67 back in 1979.

 Big Red