Good morning. It’s Tuesday.
Technically speaking, I am an only child. I say “technically” because my biological mother and father had just one kid – me.
But then they split and both got re-married and poof! I had siblings. A step-sister who is exactly my age, and two step-brothers – one on each side – who are also the same age, and four years younger than myself and my step-sister.
Confused? Ah, the bliss of modern, blended families.
I can’t say I’m terribly close to my siblings-by-marriage. I did share an apartment with my step-brother on my father’s side for a year in New York City, but as he was flying for a living and I was splitting my time between Manhattan and upstate, we didn’t cross paths much.
He’s definitely the one I’m closest to, though. By that I mean we speak maybe a few times a year on the phone and see one another maybe once or twice a year.
I don’t know very much about having a brother or sister, and from what I can tell it’s kind of a mixed bag. You either end up with a ride-or-die for life, or an arch-nemesis…or maybe I’m simplifying it in a big way?
This is all a very windy wind-up to the announcement that today is National Brother’s Day.
And yes, in case you’re wondering, there’s a National Sisters Day, too, and it falls on the first Sunday in August. There’s also a National Siblings Day, in case you can’t get enough celebrating. It’s on April 10, and it has a bit of a depressing backstory.
Here’s Aristotle had to say about the brotherly bond:
“The friendship of brothers has the characteristics found in that of comrades (and especially when these are good), and in general between people who are like each other, inasmuch as they belong more to each other and start with a love for each other from their very birth, and inasmuch as those born of the same parents and brought up together and similarly educated are more akin in character; and the test of time has been applied most fully and convincingly in their case.”
In Aristotle’s eyes, this meant that the older brother had a responsibility to influence his younger sibling by being a good person.
No pressure or anything. (Also, FWIW, Aristotle wrote that passage before the Biblical story of Esau and Jacob was penned).
Another nice day is on tap with temperatures in the low-to-mid 70s, and a mix of sun and clouds.
In the headlines…
The White House moved swiftly to clarify President Joe Biden’s comments, but his assertion that the U.S. will militarily defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion attempt may actually pave the way to conflict in the Taiwan Strait.
It’s the second time since October that aides have had to walk back Biden’s comments that appear to reverse the longtime policy of “strategic ambiguity” regarding U.S. willingness to defend Taiwan.
“My policy has not changed at all. I stated that when I made my statement yesterday,” the president told reporters when asked whether he would send U.S. troops to Taiwan if China invaded.
Biden’s comments sent Beijing a clear message without dismantling the long-standing policy of strategic ambiguity, analysts said.
As he concludes his debut tour of Asia, Biden is using Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to send an unmistakable message to China: a similar breach of international order would generate a fierce US response.
Biden enlisted a dozen Asia-Pacific nations to join a new loosely defined economic bloc to counter China’s dominance and reassert American influence after his predecessor withdrew the US from a sweeping trade accord it negotiated itself.
Biden’s decision to try to align with Asian partners to form an economic bloc against China comes at a moment of frustration over his administration’s economic approach to Beijing.
A diplomat in Russia’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva quit his post, expressing shame over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and describing it as a crime against both countries.
Biden and former President Bill Clinton were among the big political names to write tributes to those on this year’s TIME100, a list of the most influential people of the year.
Biden’s tribute came in honor of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who he called “a leader worthy of (the Ukrainian peoples’) bravery and resilience.”
As Zelensky called on the global business and political elite gathered for the World Economic Forum to take a tougher stand against Moscow, there were signs that an impasse could soon be resolved over an E.U. embargo on Russian oil.
The Biden administration is considering a release of diesel fuel from federal reserves to address skyrocketing prices and the threat of supply outages on the East Coast.
Biden in the coming weeks is expected to decide whether to put forward a student-loan forgiveness plan aimed in part at motivating young voters to cast ballots in November’s elections.
U.S. stocks rose yesterday, led by the financial sector, as the S&P 500 pushed away from bear-market territory after flirting with such levels in a volatile trading session Friday.
An outbreak of the monkeypox virus in North America and Europe is primarily spreading through sex among men with about 200 confirmed and suspected cases across at least a dozen countries, World Health Organization officials said.
The CDC alerted gay and bisexual men that monkeypox appears to be spreading in the community globally, warning people to take precautions if they have been in close contact with someone who may have the virus and to be on the lookout for symptoms.
As more than a dozen countries grapple with outbreaks of monkeypox, health officials worldwide are rushing to assess reserves of vaccines and treatments that may be needed to contain the spread.
Danish vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic A/S is making more of a smallpox vaccine typically stockpiled in case of biological warfare, as governments seek doses that also offer protection against monkeypox amid an unusual outbreak around the world.
A leading adviser to the WHO described the unprecedented outbreak of monkeypox in developed countries as “a random event” that appears to have been caused by sexual activity at two recent raves in Europe.
The UN Program on HIV/AIDS, or UNAIDS, is sounding the alarm on “homophobic and racist” reporting on the recent spread of monkeypox, saying that stigmatizing language can have a devastating effect on the efficacy of the response to the outbreak.
Philadelphia students and teachers were back to wearing masks in schools yesterday, after the city’s school district returned to an indoor mask mandate amid a rise in newly reported Covid-19 cases.
Three doses of a child-size Pfizer COVID vaccine is both safe and effective for kids from six months to 5 years old, the company said.
The companies said the three-dose regimen had been 80 percent effective in preventing symptomatic infection in a subset of the 1,678 trial participants, who were 6 months through 4 years old. Comprehensive results from the trial will be disclosed next month.
Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley said that he had tested positive for COVID-19, an announcement that could throw a wrench in Democrats’ agenda this week in an evenly divided Senate.
Dr. Anthony Fauci told Princeton University graduates that the COVID-19 pandemic has spawned a “cacophony of falsehoods and lies” that has poisoned society.
Several common air pollutants are linked to more severe outcomes following a coronavirus infection, a new study has found.
Beijing extended orders for workers and students to stay home and ordered additional mass testing as cases of COVID-19 rose in the Chinese capital.
China’s economy won’t be snapping back quickly from the latest Covid outbreak, many economists predict. Instead, they expect a slow recovery ahead.
Airbnb is closing down its business inside China indefinitely, as the country’s zero-Covid policy, lockdowns and travel restrictions continue.
New York’s weeklong COVID case rate fell for the sixth straight day yesterday, hitting its lowest level since May 7.
New York ranked eighth among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows.
Brooklyn is gaining back jobs in the post-pandemic economic recovery faster than any other place in New York City, according to a new report out of the Office of the State Comptroller.
Hudson Valley Rep. Antonio Delgado will be sworn in tomorrow as New York’s next lieutenant governor.
Hochul announced that Delgado will officially join her administration and a special election will be held in August (on the 23rd, the same day as the congressional primaries) to fill his House seat.
The decision to schedule the special election on the same day as primary races for Congress and the state Senate comes after the administration’s critics on both sides of the aisle critiqued Hochul for delaying a decision that is expected to benefit Democrats.
The upcoming contest to replace Delgado in Congressional District 19 pits Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, a Republican, against Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan, a Democrat, amid rising crime and inflation.
Four of the candidates for governor have spent a combined $19.8 million on television ads: Hochul and Representative Thomas Suozzi, both Democrats, and Representative Lee Zeldin and Harry Wilson on the Republican side.
Three days after announcing a run for an open Congressional seat, ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio sat down to lay out a vision for his campaign — and if it’s successful — for a future representing parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan in Washington.
Even though she’s 80 years old, trailblazing former New York lawmaker and prosecutor Elizabeth Holtzman is considering running for Congress in the same district as de Blasio.
Bronx Sen. Alessandra Biaggi said she would try to stand in Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney’s path to re-election, channeling the ire of the party’s left wing at the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in a primary challenge.
Biaggi, who dropped plans to run for the Queens and Nassau County-spanning 3rd district after new congressional lines were unveiled, said Maloney’s “selfish” decision to challenge Rep. Mondaire Jones largely motivated her to run against him.
“I am sure that he will say, ‘This is hurting the party, she doesn’t care about being a Democrat,’” Biaggi said, calling herself a “proud Democrat.”
Republican Assemblyman Mike Lawler will face off against whoever wins the Biaggi-Maloney primary.
Republican Sen. John Brooks said he won’t run for reelection, following the implementation of a new map for State Senate boundaries that carved up his current Long Island district.
The state Legislature passed a bill that would give adult sexual assault victims one year to bring lawsuits. Hochul said she would sign the bill.
The Adult Survivors Act, modeled after the 2019 Child Victims Act, will temporarily lift the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits against abusers of people over 18 and provide a one-year period to take legal action.
The governor announced the launch of the Prison Redevelopment Commission focused on reimagining closed prisons for innovative redevelopment opportunities across New York State.
Hochul announced the grand opening of the Finger Lakes Workforce Development Center during a press conference in Rochester.
Citing the racist massacre of 10 Black lives in a Buffalo supermarket on May 14, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore called on leaders to stomp out the “toxic currents of hate and inhumanity that undeniably exist here” along with gun violence.
Several of Mayor Eric Adams’ policy priorities in Albany remain outstanding with less than two weeks left in the legislative session — but he isn’t breaking a sweat about it.
Adams could receive a three-year extension of mayoral control over the city’s public schools, with some checks on his power, according to a proposal presented yesterday to Assembly members at a closed Democratic conference.
The search for a gunman who killed a man on a Lower Manhattan subway train continued today, as the New York City Police Department released the first known photos of the suspect.
The cold-blooded Manhattan subway killer who shot a Goldman Sachs researcher at random was captured on video giving the murder weapon to a homeless man who quickly sold the gun.
Adams has called an emergency meeting with the Big Apple’s top business leaders for Thursday afternoon in the wake of the fatal Q-train shooting of a Goldman Sachs executive on his way to Sunday brunch in Manhattan.
Adams is in talks with state officials about installing weapon “scanners” at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in the wake of this weekend’s horrific subway shooting.
An Adams-backed Assembly candidate was hired as a City Hall assistant for just over two weeks before leaving for a senior post at a little-known municipal agency nearly four months later, allowing him to continue running for office while collecting a city salary.
A new poll released by Data for Progress found widespread support across the state for a “good cause” eviction bill that would protect tenants against unjust evictions or rent increases.
New Yorkers can expect more cops on the subways overnight with the relaunch of an NYPD unit to target high crime areas in the system, the department’s transit chief Jason Wilcox said.
Facing a possible federal court takeover of the troubled Rikers Island complex, Louis A. Molina, the commissioner of New York City’s Department of Correction, will appear before a Federal district judge on today for a hearing on the jail system’s fate.
The top uniformed officer overseeing city jails was pushed out yesterday in a major shake-up by Molina as he seeks to stall momentum toward a federal court takeover of Rikers Island.
Ex-NYC homeless shelter boss Victor Rivera was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison for accepting about $1.2 million in kickbacks in a scheme that stretched from 2013 to 2020, during which he treated his organization as a personal empire.
The Manhattan district attorney’s fraud case against Donald Trump’s family real estate business and its long-serving bookkeeper should move forward, prosecutors urged a judge in lengthy court filing.
The City of Saratoga Springs’ Republican Committee chair is looking to obtain thousands of residents’ email addresses that were leaked to former elected officials and ended up being used for political purposes.
The City of Schenectady is settling an excessive force lawsuit with a man involved in of a high-profile police scuffle that inflamed racial tensions just weeks after George Floyd was murdered two years ago by a Minneapolis police officer.
The Ethan Allen, the 40-foot Lake George tour boat that capsized in 2005, drowning 20 of the 47 mostly elderly tourists on board, is for sale for just under $50,000.
The state’s record for the largest channel catfish fell earlier this month when a Watertown angler reeled in a monster specimen.
DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos reminded New Yorkers that turtles are nesting in May and June, and asked motorists to “give turtles a brake.”
Angela Lansbury, 96, an acclaimed and beloved star of stage, film and television, will be honored this year with a special Tony Award for lifetime achievement.
The attorney general for Washington, D.C., sued Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, alleging that he participated in decision-making that led to the Cambridge Analytica data breach.
Amazon is attempting to shed some warehouse space following a slowdown the company has experienced in its e-commerce operations.
