TGIF. I hate that saying, but it has been a week of drinking from the proverbial firehose.
AND to top it all off, I caught the mouse that was eating my fur children’s food, which is, of course, top dollar and therefore not something I was interested in sharing.
But glue traps…I do not like them. The mouse was STILL ALIVE when I found him. Recommendations, anyone, on something a tad more humane?
You might think that I’m rambling here, but the mouse story is actually very germane. Because it was on this date in 1928 – right here in New York, BTW – that the world’s best-known mouse, Mickey, made his screen debut in the short firm “Steamboat Willie“, along with his gal pal, Minnie.
“Steamboat Willie,” which was produced by Walt Disney and the animator Ub Iwerks, was actually the third Mickey film to be produced, but the first to be distributed.
That was because Disney saw “The Jazz Singer” – the first feature-length motion picture that had a synchronized music score AND synchronous singing/speech – and subsequently committed himself to do the same with a cartoon.
The story is pretty simplistic – Mickey is seen piloting a steamboat, suggesting he’s the captain, but then the REAL captain, a tough-looking cat named Pete, appears and tries to throw him off the bridge. Hijinks and hilarity ensue. Minnie makes an appearance as a passenger on the boat, and joins her boyfriend in “playing” a variety of animals like musical instruments.
Yeah, that sounds weird, doesn’t it? Whatever, just watch the short and see for yourself. It’s only eight minutes long.
Mickey has gone through a lot of different versions, (he actually started life out as a rabbit, of you can believe it), since the first time he appeared on screen and captured American movie-goers’ hearts. For one thing, his nose is shorter.
Also, he’s in full color now, no longer just black and white. He has more expression in his face – particularly around the eyes – and wears a lot more clothing, or, at the very least, different outfits than the two-button shots he originally sported.
Reportedly, Mickey Mouse has a net worth of $9.14 million. (I have no idea how they calculated this, TBH, but Forbes also says he’s in the Top 10 of the wealthiest fictional characters, along with his fellow big-name pals like Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy, et al). Meanwhile, Mickey’s parent company, Disney, had a net worth of $173.21 billion as of this month.
At least $3 billion of that total is the result of the sale of Mickey Mouse-and-Co. branded merch – both adult ($4,500 Gucci purse in the shape of Mickey’s head, released in honor of his 90th birthday, anyone?) and children’s products, according to the Wall Street Journal.
So, happy 95th birthday to the world’s richest rodent, Michael Theodore Mouse, or maybe Michel Francois Mouse, depending on who you ask. (This is reportedly Mickey’s real name, FWIW).
After a pretty yucky evening, we’re on tap for a standard late fall day, with intervals of clouds and sunshine and temperatures in the low 40s.
In the headlines…
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to serve in the post and the face of House Democrats for two decades, will not pursue a leadership post in the next Congress after Republicans take control, ending a historic tenure.
Her departure will bring to a close one of the lower chamber’s longest leadership tenures in U.S. history.
Following Pelosi’s announcement, Marylands Steny Hoyer, who is currently the House Majority Leader, said he will not run for a leadership position in the next Congress, and will support Brooklyn Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to lead the conference.
Jeffries has long been the rumored favorite for the role and is Pelosi’s handpicked successor. He would be the first Black party leader in the House and would face the challenge of navigating a wide-ranging caucus.
Jeffries, along with Reps. Katherine Clark, of Massachusetts, and California’s Pete Aguilar, compose a younger trio of lawmakers who could take on the leadership roles currently held by Pelosi, Hoyer), and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, of South Carolina.
The Biden administration said in a new filing that it will ask the Supreme Court to revive its student debt relief program as it fights to reverse lower court rulings that have upended its plans to forgive up to $20,000 of debt for tens of millions of Americans.
The filing came three days after the federal appeals court for the 8th Circuit in St. Louis issued a nationwide injunction temporarily barring the program.
The Biden administration released new guidelines that will make it easier for economically distressed student loan borrowers to discharge their student debt in bankruptcy proceedings.
On Sunday, America will experience a moment unique in its history – when a sitting president turns 80.
Hours after winning control of the House, Republicans began laying out plans to investigate President Biden, his administration and his family, and were met with promises of a multimillion-dollar counteroffensive from groups allied with Democrats.
Upstate GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney is calling on the new Republican House Majority to probe at least $11 billion in improper jobless claims paid out by New York State under then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo during the coronavirus pandemic.
The White House declared the high office held by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince should shield him from lawsuits for his role in the killing of a U.S.-based journalist, an about-face from Biden’s passionate campaign denunciations of Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“In making this immunity determination, the Department of State takes no view on the merits of the present suit and reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of the heinous murder of Jamal Khashoggi,” the department said in a court filing.
The Trump Organization stopped several illegal tax practices around 2017 when Donald Trump took office, former Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg testified in a New York court, but he said the Trump family was not involved in wrongdoing.
Weisselberg came close to tears as he told how money for cars, apartments and tuition was camouflaged in the ledgers of the company he served.
A Republican political strategist, Jesse Benton, was convicted of illegally helping a Russian businessman contribute to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016.
This weekend, some of Trump’s best-known potential GOP rivals will gather in Las Vegas for what’s being viewed as the first major Republican cattle call in the burgeoning race for the White House.
Biden’s White House doesn’t want to give too much attention to Trump, even though it knows the attacks are on the way after his announcement of a presidential bid on Tuesday night.
E. Jean Carroll, whose first defamation lawsuit faced challenges because Trump was then the president, will sue him again over similar statements he made after leaving office.
In a letter filed Thursday, Carroll’s attorney indicated she will file the case against Trump on Nov. 24 in the Southern District of New York.
The U.S. job market remains healthy as fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, despite the Federal Reserve’s rapid interest rate hikes this year intended to bring down inflation and tighten the labor market.
Applications for jobless claims for the week ending Nov. 12 fell by 4,000 to 222,000 from 226,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported. The four-week moving average rose by 2,000 to 221,000.
New York added 3,700 jobs in the private sector last month, but the unemployment rate ticked upward in October, the state Department of Labor announced.
After adding employees during the pandemic, many are starting to downsize, and the trend only looks to be starting. How companies handle their staffing issues could separate the winners from the losers.
Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy said that layoffs under way at the tech company, which will extend into next year, are the most difficult decision he has made since taking over from Jeff Bezos last year.
Meta has fired or disciplined more than two dozen employees and contractors over the last year whom it accused of improperly taking over user accounts, in some cases allegedly for bribes.
After two years of disruption, supply chains are almost back to normal. That means shelves should be fully stocked, and some prices actually will be lower this holiday season, industry executive and analysts say.
Macy’s and Khol’s said sales fell in the most recent quarter as shoppers delayed their holiday purchases. That compares with last year, when scarcity prompted people to buy earlier or risk having items on their list sold out.
Though selling recalled toys is illegal, researchers at the nonprofit U.S. Public Interest Research Group (USPIRG) say they easily snagged more than 30 of them last month alone.
Starbucks employees at more than 100 U.S. stores went on a labor strike yesterday, on Red Cup Day, one of the coffee chain’s busiest days of the year.
Tech company ID.me misled US officials and the public about processing delays and the scope of fraud in the unemployment insurance system, and used those claims to secure more government business, a House investigation found.
New York’s long-serving budget czar is stepping down to become the executive director of Puerto Rico’s fiscal control board.
Robert Mujica, who controlled the state’s purse strings since being named budget director by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2015, will join the oversight board in January, the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico announced.
Mujica’s departure from the Hochul administration had been rumored for two months. Administration insiders said they expect he may be succeeded in the position by Sandra L. Beattie, the first deputy budget director.
Outrage greeted Hochul’s decision to spring into action when her hometown of Buffalo was forecast to be hit by a huge snowstorm — with critics saying she still hasn’t lifted a finger to help the Big Apple deal with its $1 billion migrant crisis.
State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs has a lot of vocal opponents in the aftermath of the midterm elections, but he still has plenty of support among county chairs.
New York GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin is inching closer toward running for chair of the Republican National Committee, challenging current leader Ronna McDaniel.
“I am very seriously considering your requests and am grateful for your messages,” Zeldin told committee members in a letter sent yesterday afternoon in response to calls for him to challenge incumbent RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel.
While New York has one of the highest minimum wages in the U.S. it could go even higher. Some lawmakers want to move minimum wage to $20 across most of the state.
New York regulators have granted approval for a 25-mile transmission line that will carry power from the state’s largest offshore wind farm to a substation in Suffolk County, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office announced.
Advocates who have called for changes to New York’s criminal justice system are starting a new effort to overhaul how people are sentenced to prison.
An effort to strengthen New York’s $3 billion horse racing industry is moving forward with a coalition of business groups, trade organizations and labor unions ramping up its efforts to aid the sport.
Recreational marijuana licenses in New York will completely divide businesses growing and processing the plant from those that will sell it, except in the case of “microbusinesses,” according to a preview of draft industry rules.
City lawmakers will hold two days of hearings into Mayor Eric Adams’ response to the migrant crisis, following uncertainty about care the recent arrivals have received and the costs of the decision to erect tent cities and use hotel rooms to house them.
Adams attended the Central Park Conservancy’s annual gala this week, toasting green spaces and rich people, while trotting out some well-worn one-liners he has used at other events.
A controversial rezoning that would pave the way for a $2 billion project in Queens got a key approval from the City Council’s Zoning Subcommittee — even though the project’s contours have yet to be fully agreed upon.
Rikers Island is full of problems, but it’s still too soon to put the city’s violence-plagued jails into federal receivership, a federal judge said.
A 27-year-old man entered the New York Times building yesterday armed with a knife, ax and sword, according to police. He reportedly did not appear to threaten anyone but asked to speak with particular individuals.
Shamel Capers was convicted at the age of 16 of a murder he insisted he did not commit. Yesterday, the conviction was thrown out after the discovery of exonerating evidence.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office sought the dismissal of 188 misdemeanor convictions, going as far back as 2001, that were tied to the work of eight former New York Police Department officers, sergeants and detectives who have since been discredited.
Manhattan Councilman Erik Bottcher is urging the LGBTQ community to be “extra vigilant” when going out for a night on the town after the suspicious deaths of two gay men in Hell’s Kitchen.
As Capital Region hospitals grapple with staff shortages and a seasonal uptick in medical emergencies, the patient backlog at local emergency departments is spilling into the EMS sector, which ambulance providers say puts the larger community at risk.
The state Department of Agriculture and Markets is warning people not to drink unpasteurized raw milk they may have previously purchased from the Nickol Dairy farm near Cooperstown due to possible Listeria contamination.
The gunman who was accused of killing 10 people in a racist massacre at a Buffalo supermarket earlier this year has agreed to plead guilty to all state charges against him, according to two victims’ relatives.
Erie County is now under a State of Emergency due to the lake-effect snow and hazardous road conditions, County Executive Mark Poloncarz announced last night.
Buffalo was walloped by 3-inch-per-hour snowfall rates and even “thundersnow” as a historic lake-effect storm system bore down on the region
Hours before a deadline yesterday that Elon Musk had given Twitter employees to decide whether to stay or leave their jobs, the social media company appeared to be in disarray.
The company suffered a new wave of departures to its already depleted workforce after many employees rejected Musk’s demand that they commit to working “long hours at high intensity” in order to stay.
Taylor Swift canceled her “Eras Tour” ticket sale to the general public planned for today after the presale for the pop star’s first tour in five years saw historic demand, overwhelming ticketing systems and leaving few available seats.
“Due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand,” Ticketmaster announced, “tomorrow’s public on-sale for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour has been cancelled.”
A Florida judge ordered the estate of Brian Laundrie to pay $3 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of his fiancé, Gabby Petito, whom officials say Laundrie admitted to killing.
Yankees star Aaron Judge took home his first career MVP after hitting an American League record 62 home runs in one of the greatest offensive seasons of recent MLB history.
Judge, a slugging outfielder for the Yankees, swatted 62 home runs and beat out Shohei Ohtani, the Angels’ two-way superstar, for the American League’s top honor.
The fan from Texas who caught Judge’s 62nd homer is putting it up for auction, and he wants to set a record, too.
