YEE-HAW! It’s Friday.
I feel like I’m racing agains the clock a bit these days, maybe it’s because it’s getting darker earlier – or lighter later, depending on your point of view.
I have long been in the habit of rising in the dark, so that hasn’t changed. But sometimes I am embarrassed to admit, that at the height of summer I was starting to think about going to bed while it was still light out. No more.
Soon enough, it will be dark at 4 p.m. and I will need to dig out my grow light for people to combat the mid-winter doldrums. But not yet. Not yet. There’s still a few weeks left of warm weather to squeeze every inch of enjoyment out of.
Today we have something to celebrate. It’s Women’s Equality Day, commemorating the 1920 adoption of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to any citizen on the basis of sex.
Women’s Equality Day has a New York connection. It was championed by the great Empire State feminist and civil rights advocate Rep. Bella Abzug (her memorable campaign slogan was: “A Woman’s Place Is In The House – The House of Representatives”) in 1971, as well as by Reps. Shirley Chisholm, and Patsy Mink, and finally passed in 1973
A great Abzug quote: “I’ve been described as a tough and noisy woman, a prizefighter, a man-hater, you name it. They call me Battling Bella”.
Also, something I didn’t know about her, she was one of the first members of Congress to support gay rights, introducing the first federal gay rights bill, known as the Equality Act of 1974, with none other than Rep. Ed Koch, who went on to become mayor of New York City.
A word about the 19th Amendment, which was definitely a step in the right direction, but did not guarantee the right to vote to all women – for example, Black, Asian, indigenous and other communities of color were not included. It also left out women with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ+ communities.
It took passage of the Civil Rights Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and a series of additional laws to ensure that all women were given a vote in U.S. elections. (FWIW, if you happen to live in one of the five U.S. territories – man or woman – you STILL don’t have the right to vote in the general presidential election and also don’t have a voting representative in Congress).
A little history: The 19th Amendment was sent to the states for ratification on June 4, 1919 after the Senate endorsed it. Tennessee, bless its heart, had to turn back an attempt to reverse its legislative ratification of the Amendment – thankfully, they held the line – and the official certification occurred on this day in 1920.
Fifty years or so later, there was a so-called “second wave” of feminism in the U.S., and on the 50th anniversary of the ratification, the National Organization for Women organized the Women’s Strike for Equality, asking women to stop working for a day to highlight inequalities in pay and education and also the need for more child care centers.
Women took part in events in 90 cities across the nation, and in New York City, approximately 50,000 marched, with some even taking over the Statue of Liberty.
Fast forward to today, and sadly, though women make up 51 percent of the U.S. population, we have yet to achieve 100 percent equity. The pay gap is still a very real thing, for example. And we’re still battling pregnancy discrimination.
The Equal Rights Amendment, which would grant constitutional amendment that will guarantee legal gender equality for women and men, has yet to pass. .(The whole thing is very complicated, click here for more).
Today might not be the best, weather-wise, for marching and demonstrating (outside, anyway). We’ll have a mix of clouds and sun with a chance of thunderstorms – some of them potentially severe – and temperatures in the mid-to-high 80s.
In the headlines…
A federal judge in Florida ordered the government to release by noon today its redacted version of the affidavit detailing evidence that led to the extraordinary search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.
The decision by Judge Bruce E. Reinhart came just hours after the Justice Department submitted its proposal for extensive redactions to the document, in an effort to shield witnesses from intimidation or retribution if it is made public, officials said.
Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is seeking testimony from Mark Meadows, Trump’s final chief of staff, according to a court filing, as she investigates efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the state’s 2020 election results.
Biden’s decision to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for millions of borrowers will have broad economic consequences, including on inflation, consumer behavior and government budgets, though the degree of those effects is uncertain.
Biden is offering what independent analysts suggest would be his most targeted assistance yet to middle-class workers — while trying to repair what he casts as a broken bridge to the middle class.
Biden slammed congressional Republicans who criticized student loan forgiveness after passing tax cuts for the rich.
Even for a famously indecisive President, the question of whether to use executive powers to forgive student loan debt appeared particularly long and drawn-out.
The Supreme Court could block Biden’s student debt relief plan, but the administration may have already identified another way to enact relief if the judiciary stands in the way of Plan A.
After hitting a record low in July, Biden’s job approval rating is up six percentage points to 44%, his highest in a year. He still remains underwater overall, with 53% of Americans disapproving of his job performance.
Biden had harsh words to describe Trump-allied Republicans, as he held his first political rally in the run-up to November elections, accusing the group of embracing violence and hatred, and saying they edged toward “semi-fascism” at an earlier fund-raising stop.
The president, speaking at a Democratic fundraiser in Maryland, called out “extreme” Republicans and said he was concerned about the state of Democracy in America.
“In 2020, you and 81 million Americans voted to save our democracy,” Biden told a roaring crowd in Maryland. “That’s why Donald Trump isn’t just a former president. He is a defeated former president.”
Biden plans to travel to New York City in September to speak at the UN General Assembly.
Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign rejected an offer to buy Biden’s daughter’s stolen diary, federal prosecutors say.
Two Florida residents have pleaded guilty in a scheme to peddle a diary and other items stolen from Biden’s daughter Ashley to the conservative group Project Veritas for $40,000, prosecutors said.
The group has said it paid for rights to publish the diary, but never did so because it couldn’t authenticate it. Contents from the diary later emerged on a more obscure conservative site.
The Pentagon announced sweeping changes aimed at reducing risks to civilians in U.S. military operations by fostering a culture in which those in the field view preventing such harm as a core part of their missions.
Fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week as the labor market continues to stand out as one of the strongest segments of the U.S. economy.
Applications for jobless aid for the week ending Aug. 20 fell by 2,000 to 243,000, the Labor Department reported.
New unemployment filings had fallen to as low as 166,000 in late March — the second-fewest on record — before turning higher as the economy slowed. They recently topped out this summer at 261,000 and have begun creeping lower again.
The second-quarter decline in U.S. economic output was less severe than initially estimated and unemployment claims fell slightly last week, signs of measured slowing in the overall economy in the face of high inflation and easing consumer demand.
The Chinese metropolis of Chongqing has rolled out mass Covid testing in its central area amid a record heat wave, leaving millions of residents standing under the sun for hours as they struggle with extreme temperatures and power shortages.
COVID-19 vaccines tweaked to better match today’s omicron threat are expected to roll out in a few weeks but still up in the air is how much benefit the booster shots will offer, who should get one — and how soon.
As the Federal Drug Administration prepares to issue an emergency authorization for Pfizer and Moderna booster shots aimed at the omicron strains in circulation, some pharmacies have stopped taking appointments for the primary series.
Nate Silver claimed “liberal public health elites” pressured Pfizer to delay fast-track approval of its COVID-19 vaccine until after the 2020 presidential election — thus denying then-President Trump a political win before voters headed to the polls.
Novak Djokovic will not be playing in the U.S. Open due to his unwillingness to comply with federal Covid-19 vaccination policy.
In the first such case, a 36-year-old man in Italy has simultaneously tested positive for monkeypox, Covid-19 and HIV.
With 70 unvaccinated NYC firefighters poised to lose their jobs, according to their union, the organization is calling for the COVID jab mandate to go away “just like the pandemic has.”
An advocacy organization called for opening up New York’s primary elections to voters who are not registered in either major party after Tuesday’s elections in which 7.9 million people were eligible to cast ballots, but less than 16 percent actually did so.
New York’s gubernatorial race heated up as Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Rep. Lee Zeldin exchanged verbal blows on taxes, safe injection sites, bail reform and a state ban on fracking.
Zeldin launched a fundraising blitz off of Hochul’s recent comments inviting him and other conservative opponents of her agenda to ditch New York for Florida.
Multiple companies have submitted offers to conduct a wide-ranging review of New York state government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic since the onset of the public health crisis in March 2020, Hochul said.
Hochul offered tepid support for a bill that would mandate significantly smaller class sizes in New York City schools, suggesting that a compromise could be coming within days.
“I’m looking closely at it. I’m inclined to be supportive,” Hochul said on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show, adding she spoke with Mayor Eric Adams and expected a resolution in the coming days. “I just have to work out a few more details with the mayor.”
The NY Post took Hochul to task for agreeing to debate Zeldin in theory, but failing to actually accept any invitations to do so.
Zeldin accused Hochul of being “afraid” to debate him.
Hochul credits her first public speech – as part of the 4-H program, which is managed and operated statewide by Cornell – for instilling her with poise and self-assurance.
Outrage continued yesterday after more migrants arrived in New York City on buses from Texas. The busloads of asylum seekers arrived at Port Authority and some still had bar codes on their wrists.
Hochul said she is working on several solutions, but is not wading into the ugly, “mano-a-mano” fight between Adams and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
The ongoing surge of migrants to the Big Apple has forced the city to strike emergency deals with 14 hotels because the shelter system is overloaded.
Hochul did not rule out using the state’s authority to detain a person on parole facing new charges.
The federal government is sending $4 million to New York to help increase the mental health care workforce in the state after more than two years of a public health crisis that has highlighted the need to bolster the field.
Medical marijuana companies are struggling to break into New York’s nascent adult-use market.
With New York regulators set to begin accepting applications for the first round of adult-use marijuana retailer licenses for justice-involved people , the OCM released a regional breakdown showing how initial dispensary approvals will be distributed statewide.
Forecasters shifted their rating for the outcome in NY-18’s general election contest toward the Democrats after Democrat Pat Ryan won a special election Tuesday that was seen as a bellwether.
Ryan celebrated his upset win in a Hudson Valley special election by denouncing Trump as “essentially traitorous.”
Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou faces long odds of overtaking attorney Dan Goldman in the tight Democratic primary for the NY-10 congressional district even though thousands of absentee ballots remain un-tallied.
In one of his first interviews since the AP declared him the winner in the primary, former federal prosecutor and first-time candidate Goldman told Errol Louis on “Inside City Hall” his opponents in the race have yet to congratulate him.
A prominent Jewish group applauded the victories of pro-Israel voices in Tuesday’s Democratic House primaries — including Goldman‘s win over Niou, who backed the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against the Jewish state.
Though New York is not traditionally a battleground state, a number of competitive congressional districts could help turn the tide for either party come November.
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio dropped out of the high-profile 10th Congressional District primary in July. That didn’t stop about 500 people from voting for him on Tuesday.
Adams signed legislation to provide a one-time property tax rebate of up to $150 to hundreds of thousands of eligible New York homeowners. The bill was passed by the New York City Council earlier this month.
Amazon has told city officials it will stop selling in New York devices that block or obscure license plates from toll readers, stop light and speeding cameras in a move that makes good on a law passed by the City Council last year.
Rikers Island’s staffing crisis is far from over, with data published by the city Comptroller’s Office showing fewer uniformed officers are available to work in the city’s jails — even though fewer are calling in sick.
Three NYPD officers — including a former detective who once claimed she was framed and poisoned by a fellow cop who cast Santeria spells on her — must shell out $191,000 in damages to a man they wrongfully arrested on drug charges.
The knives are out for congestion pricing, and loads of motorists want a carveout. The MTA is moving ahead with the scheme, which aims to toll motorists who drive in Manhattan south of 60th St., not including the West Side Highway and FDR Drive.
The first public hearing since the MTA unveiled details of its Manhattan congestion pricing plan was expected to be a marathon — with more than 400 people signed up to speak and officials promising to give each one the chance to be heard.
Steven Hoffenberg, a former business partner of Jeffrey Epstein, has been presumed dead after a decomposing body was found in his Connecticut home.
Sandy Hook victims’ families asked a federal bankruptcy court to order the Infowars’ Alex Jones to relinquish control over his company, saying he has “systematically transferred millions of dollars” to himself and his relatives while claiming to be broke.
A small study on the therapeutic effects of using psychedelics to treat alcohol use disorder found that just two doses of psilocybin magic mushrooms paired with psychotherapy led to an 83 percent decline in heavy drinking among the participants.
