Bill deBlasio
Bill de Blasio

Thanks but no thanks. Bill de Blasio, New York’s unloved mayor, plans to publicly take the COVID-19 vaccine when it arrives in the Big Apple next week. He believes the gesture will allay concerns that some New Yorkers have about the safety of the vaccine.

Fuhheddaboudit, Bill. You think too highly of yourself. The stunt has the potential of turning people off from the vaccine.

DeBlasio, who was raised in Cambridge, MA, wore out his welcome at City Hall a long time ago.

Most New Yorkers feel that he is just going through the motions until his term expires next year. He tried to escape Gotham with an ill-fated plunge into the 2020 Democratic presidential race that drew only a few political junkies on the campaign trail in Iowa and ridicule in NYC.

A Siena College Research poll in 2019 rated deBlasio the second most unpopular politician in New York, topping only president Trump.

A Spectrum News/Ipsos survey conducted in October found that only 52 percent of NYC residents approved of Mayor Bill’s handling of the pandemic, compared to 73 percent for Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Hizzoner should drop the COVID-vaccine stunt and let New York native Anthony Fauci take the shot.

Pope Francis gives corporate purpose group a PR boost. The pontiff, a strong critic of unfettered capitalism, has thrown his support behind the Council for Inclusive Capitalism, a group of giant corporations and investment firms committed to creating “stronger, fairer, more collaborative economic societies” to improve the lives of millions of people throughout the world.

“An economic system that is fair, trustworthy, and capable of addressing the most profound challenges facing humanity and our planet is urgently needed," Pope Francis said Dec. 8 in a statement released by the Vatican. “You have taken up the challenge by seeking ways to make capitalism become a more inclusive instrument for integral human wellbeing.”

Council members control more $10.5 trillion in assets under management and companies with over $2.1 trillion of market capitalization that employ more than 200M workers in 163 countries.

They include Bank of America, Salesforce, BP, Merck, Dupont, Ford Foundation, Visa, Mastercard, Estee Lauder Cos., Johnson & Johnson, TIAA, Rockefeller Foundation, EY, Kering Group and Guardian Life Insurance.

Pope Francis has agreed to provide moral guidance to the Council and meet with its founding members each year.

“Capitalism has created enormous global prosperity, but it has also left too many people behind, led to degradation of our planet, and is not widely trusted in society,” said Lynn Forester de Rothschild, founder of the Council. “This Council will follow the warning from Pope Francis to listen to ‘the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor’ and answer society’s demands for a more equitable and sustainable model of growth.”

The Council is looking to add members that are committed to making capitalism more inclusive, sustainable and trusted.

Grifter’s delight. Ivanka Trump tweeted that the DC probe into how the 2016 inauguration committee funneled the money of donors into her family’s Washington hotel, while cheaper rooms abounded at other lodgings in the city, is just a just a waste of taxpayer money.

The city’s attorney general claims the inauguration committee illegally overpaid $1.1M to Trump International Hotel.

The IC shelled out $175K to rent a ballroom on a day it had no events on the schedule. On another day, it rented the space for the same $175K, though a nonprofit had used the space earlier and was billed $5K. TIH is the Trump family's piggy bank.

Ivanka blasted the investigation as “another politically motivated demonstration of vindictiveness & a waste of taxpayer dollars.”

Unfortunately, the DC investigation is all for naught. It will run beyond Jan. 20 when Donald Trump escapes Washington for Mar-a-Lago.

Trump swept into and will leave office amid charges that he violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution. That’s a perfect summary for one of the most corrupt White Houses in US history.