Good middle-of-the-week morning. (AKA Wednesday).
I am an only child and am also childless – unless you count the two fur babies and the step-kid, which I both do and don’t.
I do certainly understand unconditional love, or at least I think I do, of the sort that can only come from a person or animal who expects nothing of you other than to be loved and cared for in return for love and care.
But I will never experience that biological bond with a person who I brought into the world. To be clear: I do not regret this decision. I made it deliberately and willingly. I think there are far too many people on the planet already, and I certainly didn’t need to replicate myself simply to meet biological and societal expectations.
(Please stop asking this question of childless women, BTW, if they feel like sharing, believe me, they will).
I do have an enormous respect for all the women who did choose to be moms, which, from what I can tell, is just about one of the hardest jobs there is.
That goes double when it comes to breastfeeding, though I know it’s not for everyone. The mere idea of sustaining a human that you grew inside your body with JUST the milk you produce – again, with your body – is pretty mind blowing.
Aug. 1-7 is National/World Breastfeeding Week, which was launched in 1992 to promote the health and wellness benefits of breastfeeding for moms and babies alike.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for the first six months of life, though that recommendation is not followed in almost two out of three babies born across the globe.
In June, the American Academy of Pediatrics expanded their guidelines to recommend moms breastfeed for two years.
Again, recognizing here that this does not work for all moms, and whether you follow all this guidance is an intensely personal choice. Food for thought: 81 percent of mothers say that breastfeeding and the postpartum experience is not “realistically portrayed” in the media, and more than half say they were not prepared for the breastfeeding experience.
According to the World Alliance for Breastfeeding (WABA), scaling up breastfeeding could prevent 20,000 maternal deaths and 823,000 child deaths every year, while also staving off $302 billion in economic losses.
Though breastfeeding seems like the most natural thing in the world, it does not come easily to many. And there’s some research that suggests the lack of medical/professional assistance during the pandemic to help those who were struggling with it caused the number of women who were breastfeeding during the COVID crisis to go down.
The WABA has made it a priority to restore breastfeeding support systems to pre-pandemic levels to help reach global nutrition targets by 2025.
In the developed world, breastfeeding does not always receive the support it should. Breastfeeding in public is often frowned upon, though babies aren’t able to determine when and where it’s “appropriate” to be hungry and demand a meal. Just last month, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill that requires nursing-friendly private spaces behind security screening areas in airports.
“One of the biggest challenges for new parents is finding a space to feed their children,” said Hochul, who recently became a grandmother for the first time.
“This is a fight that many have had to deal with for many years, and only recently have they been able to secure the rights and accommodations that they deserve,” the governor continued. “By signing this into law, we will continue to make New York a better place to safely and securely raise young children.”
Sounds about right to me.
We’re heading into another spate of very hot weather. Today will be sunny, with temperatures flirting with 90 degrees.
Only the Southwest and Alaska are forecast to have cool or average temperatures over the next few weeks, according to the monthly outlook from the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center. The rest of the country? Hot or hotter.
Brace yourself.
In the headlines…
In Kansas, voters rejected a proposed amendment that would have opened the door for state lawmakers to restrict – or even ban – abortions. In Arizona’s GOP gubernatorial primary, Republicans appear poised to break with Donald Trump and his candidate.
The Kansas vote was the first test of voter sentiment after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June that overturned the constitutional right to abortion, providing an unexpected result with potential implications for the coming midterm elections.
Kansas isn’t the only state where abortion rights are on the ballot this year. But the sound rejection of the so-called “Value Them Both” amendment — and high turnout for a midterm election primary — was a significant victory for abortion rights advocates.
“The Supreme Court’s extreme decision to overturn Roe v. Wade put women’s health and lives at risk. Tonight, the American people had something to say about it,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
The Biden administration sued Idaho over a strict state abortion law set to take effect this month that the Justice Department said would inhibit emergency room doctors from performing abortions necessary to stabilize women facing medical emergencies.
Across the country, Trump has endorsed more than 200 candidates so far this year, many of whom ran unopposed or faced little-known, poorly funded opponents. His picks thus far have had mixed success at the ballot box.
Trump went all-in on several election-denying candidates for yesterday’s primaries — but as the votes rolled in, he seemed to come out on shaky ground.
Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel under Trump who tried to stop some of his more extreme efforts to overturn the 2020 election, has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury investigating activities in the lead-up to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.
The US Senate voted to pass a long-sought bipartisan legislation to expand health care benefits for millions of veterans exposed to toxic burn pits during their military service, sending the bill to Biden to sign into law. The final vote was 86-11.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on the floor called the passage a “wonderful moment, especially for all the people who made this happen.”
Republicans who had blocked the bill, which would extend benefits to an estimated 3.5 million veterans, allowed it to pass after trying unsuccessfully to limit funding for the treatments.
Biden is set to sign into law a bipartisan bill to invest billions of dollars in domestic semiconductor manufacturing and science research, with the aim of boosting U.S. competitiveness with China and other foreign rivals.
Biden’s approval rating for his sixth quarter in office is the lowest of any president in the modern era, according to Gallup.
Voter rage at Biden over the state of the economy is likely to result in another epic “shellacking” for Democrats in November’s midterm elections, which could cost them 40-plus seats in Congress and control of both chambers, according to a new study.
The “misery index” of inflation and unemployment reached 12.7% in June and is projected by Bloomberg Economics to be at 12% in October.
Biden continued to test positive for COVID-19 yesterday and will maintain his isolation procedures, but he is feeling well and does not have a fever, his physician said in a memo released by the White House.
Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the president’s physician, revealed that Biden is experiencing his first symptoms of COVID since his rebound three days ago: a loose cough. Still, O’Connor says, the president remains fever-free with promising vitals.
Around a third of people with Covid will experience a rebound of their symptoms, regardless of whether they’ve been treated with the antiviral Paxlovid, according to a study posted online yesterday.
Some studies suggest that the risk of cardiovascular problems, such as a heart attack or stroke, remains high even many months after a SARS-CoV-2 infection clears up.
A viable nasal vaccine may be key in preventing the spread of the virus.
There is a petition circulating to allow Novak Djokovic to play at the U.S. Open but the Serbian appears likely to miss the entire North American hardcourt swing barring a sudden change in COVID-19 protocols in the United States and Canada.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan, becoming the highest-ranking American official in 25 years to visit the self-ruled island claimed by China, which quickly announced that it would conduct military maneuvers in retaliation for her presence.
Pelosi explained the rationale behind her trip in a Washington Post op-ed, writing: “We must stand by Taiwan, which is an island of resilience.”
As Beijing announced an intimidating array of military exercises around Taiwan, the Chinese government also unleashed a volley of statements making clear that its grievances with the United States go beyond Pelosi’s visit to the island.
Pelosi kept her plans for her visit to Taiwan shrouded in official secrecy. And even after her arrival on the island, she has not made her itinerary public.
Pelosi vowed to preserve democracy in Taiwan in the face of growing threats from mainland China in a closely watched meeting with Taiwan’s president.
Biden announced a team to coordinate and manage the White House’s monkeypox response efforts, as the virus spreads in cities and states across the nation.
Robert Fenton of FEMA will serve as the White House National Monkeypox Response Coordinator, and Dr. Demetre Daskalakis will be deputy coordinator, the White House said in a statement.
Leaders of some national LGBTQ organizations, are frustrated and angry at the federal government for its “lack of urgency” about the ongoing outbreak.
Monkeypox patients said they are navigating the outbreak without sufficient guidance from physicians and public-health officials on how to treat the disease and prevent its spread.
After early stumbles, the race to contain rapidly spreading monkeypox infections in New York is gaining traction as vaccine supplies grow and outbreak disparities connected to age, sex and ethnicity come into focus.
New York state’s health commissioner, Dr. Mary Bassett, said that monkeypox continues to spread, and people should be aware of the risk and how to access the limited supply of vaccines.
A new Siena College poll shows Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul with a 14-point lead over Republican nominee Rep. Lee Zeldin ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
While that’s a sizable lead for the incumbent, it’s also the third-best performance by a GOP nominee in a public gubernatorial poll in New York in the five elections since Republican Gov. George Pataki last ran in 2002.
When asked who they’d “vote for today” with Hochul and Zeldin as the candidates for their respective parties, 53% of respondents said they’d vote for the governor while 39% said they would vote for Zeldin.
Zeldin will need to close a yawning gender gap with female voters and make inroads among Hispanics for a shot at pulling off an upset against Hochul, political experts said.
Runaway spending in Hochul and state Democrats’ record, election year, $220 billion budget has left New York facing deficits for the next five years, watchdogs warned, saying Albany’s leaders could make things worse for a generation if they continue on track.
Hochul’s budget office released a sobering quarterly report that said New York State won’t recover all the jobs it lost during the COVID-19 outbreak until 2026
Hochul’s pick to lead New York’s public power operations, Justin Driscoll, has drawn the ire of climate activists and progressive lawmakers for his opposition to legislation that would expand the New York Power Authority’s green energy production.
Hochul relied almost exclusively on wealthy donors in the latest campaign fundraising period, which ended in mid-July, and the governor received a little more than $2 million, with 46% of her individual contributions exceeding $25,000.
The MTA quietly stopped keeping track of whether riders are wearing masks on the subways, even as Hochul doubled down on her mask mandate for public transit just a few weeks ago.
Good-government organizations and a think tank urged Hochul to go further with her plans to have New York review the state government’s response to the pandemic and create a commission with subpoena power.
Republicans are calling on state Attorney General Letitia James to investigate alleged pay-to-play schemes involving Hochul ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
James is backing an amicus brief that opposes an effort to bar colleges and universities from considering race or ethnicity in the admissions process.
Mayor Eric Adams said that communities want more cops on the ground to help curb gun violence and stop the spread of illegal guns tied to shootings on city streets.
Adams declined an invitation from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to check out the state’s southern border after accusing the Republican leader of trying to pawn off asylum-seeking immigrants on the Big Apple.
When asked if he had marched in LGBTQ Pride parades, NY-10 contender Dan Goldman responded that his work as a federal prosecutor prevented him from doing so, but a review of Justice Department guidelines shows that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Goldman faced attacks from all sides over issues including health care, campaign finance and free speech during a 10th Congressional District debate hosted by PoliticsNY/Schneps Media this week.
Neither of the senior House Democrats running against each other in Manhattan’s 12th Congressional District were willing to back Biden’s re-election in 2024 when given the chance in a debate last night.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney said she doesn’t think Biden will run for reelection.
Maloney tried to stave off attacks from challenger Suraj Patel in the debate, while Rep. Jerrold Nadler appeared to struggle to answer questions on issues from fighting the GOP to vaccine misinformation.
The two longtime Democrats stood and sat side by side, each collegially allowing the other to recite decades of accomplishments and showing an unusual degree of deference. Patel, a lawyer who has never held elected office, played the energetic aggressor.
“It’s 2022. It’s time to turn the page on 1992,” Patel, 38, said in a swipe at Nadler, 75, and Maloney, 76, during his introductory statement in the debate co-sponsored by NY1 and WNYC.
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney painted his opponent as too progressive and disconnected from the people of the district while state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi offered the chance to have new ideas in Washington during a virtual NY-17 debate last night.
A loophole caused by redistricting litigation currently allows for already registered voters in New York to change their political affiliation up to and the day of the August 23 primary for House and state Senate seats.
The NYPD seized 240 motorized dirt bikes and ATVs in one day in response to people fed up with the ear-splitting and often illegal rides, police said.
A fierce dispute over a proposal to move formerly incarcerated people from Rikers Island into a hospital campus in a middle-class Bronx neighborhood raises a critical question for New York in the post-COVID era.
New York City’s public housing complexes are getting $70 million to pay for new heating and cooling technology that would allow residents to control temperatures in their own apartments.
Officials unveiled a new 18-foot ceiling on the northeast corner of Penn Station, part of its effort to expand the its northern end above Long Island Rail Road tracks.
A 14-year-old boy was found fatally shot in a Queens driveway early yesterday, and investigators were exploring whether the killing was connected to a shooting on a nearby block the night before, officials said.
Albany’s Center Square made Forbes’ Top 10 list of best cities/neighborhoods for young professionals.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is being sued by his ex-wife, Judith, who wants him to cough up more than a quarter of a million dollars, or go to prison.
RIP Joe Mondello, a former United States Ambassador, Hempstead Town supervisor and attorney who for more than three decades as chairman of the Nassau County Republican Committee was a powerful force in county politics, who died at the age of 84.
RIP Vin Scully, who was celebrated for his mastery of the graceful phrase and his gift for storytelling during the 67 summers he served as the announcer for Dodgers baseball games, first in Brooklyn and then in Los Angeles. He has died at the age of 94.
