Good morning, it’s Tuesday.
On this day in 1918, Rolihlahla Mandela was born into the Madiba clan in the village of Mvezo, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape.
Perhaps that doesn’t mean anything to you, but it will (probably) when you learn that while in primary school at the tender age of about 7, the young Mandela was given the Christian name “Nelson” by his teacher, in keeping with the custom at the time.
Now that we’re on the same page…Nelson Mandela, as you’re no doubt aware, led the charge to put an end to apartheid in South African – an effort he realized during his tenure as the country’s first Black president.
In 1944, Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC) – the oldest Black political organization in South Africa, which was focused on attaining equality between whites and Blacks. He became a leader of ANC’s Johannesburg’s youth wing.
This was four years before the apartheid system (basically formalized and government sanctioned racial segregation) was put in place. Mandela eventually rose to the position of deputy national president of the ANC and was an outspoken organizer and opponent of apartheid, traveling the country to gain support for nonviolent protest of the National Party and resistance.
He was arrested on treason charges on several occasions. But it wasn’t until the 1960s when he was formally charged with trying to overthrow the government with the secret military geurilla group Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), which occurred after the massacre of peaceful Black demonstrators at Sharpeville in 1960, that he was given a life sentence and imprisoned.
Mandela spent 27 years behind bars, the first 18 of which were at the notorious Robben Island Prison, where he did hard labor and lived in a small cell with no bed and no plumbing. He later was moved to a different location and placed under house arrest.
F.W. de Klerk becamse president of South Africa in 1989, which marked the beginning of the end of apartheid. He lifted the ban on the ANC, suspended executions, dismantled the country’s nuclear weapons program, and – most notably for the purposes of this post – ordered Mandela’s release in February 1990.
After his release, Mandela worked with de Klerk on the continuing effort to end apartheid. Theirs was not a comfortable or even a necessarily positive or friendly relationship, yet they were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. One year later, the ANC won an electoral majority in the country’s first free elections. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Mandela retired from politics in 1999. He continued to be a globally recognized force and symbol of equity, as well as an advocate for peace and social justice until his death in December 2013 at the age of 95.
We’re back on scattered thunderstorm watch again this morning, with clouds in the afternoon. More flooding is also possible. Temperatures will be in the mid-80s. State environmental and health officials expect the smoke to slowly dissipate today, but air quality will remain unhealthy for sensitive groups in the upper Hudson Valley region which includes the Capital Region.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and invited him to the U.S. for a meeting in the coming months.
The planned meeting was announced by Netanyahu’s office after what it said was “a warm and long” phone call between the two. It was confirmed by the White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.
“They have agreed that they will meet, probably before the end of this year, and all the details of the wheres and the whens are still being worked out,” Kirby said.
An increasingly deep divide among Democrats in Congress about how strongly — or even whether — to support Israel has reared its head on the eve of a visit by the nation’s president to Washington.
The rift burst into public view over the weekend when Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat who leads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said at a conference of the liberal Netroots Nation that Israel “is a racist state.”
Jayapal walked back the comments, which sparked backlash among members of her own party,
Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders will meet young labor organizers from Starbucks and Minor League Baseball among others at the White House on Monday as a growing number of worker strikes grip the country.
Biden is growing his unusually small reelection campaign team, announcing plans to add three new people to the payroll.
The campaign announced that former White House aide and congressman Cedric Richmond is joining as co-chair and that two veteran Democratic fundraisers are signing on to lead outreach to donors.
Financier George Soros and his son Alex provided maximum donations to Biden’s campaign during the second quarter, filings show.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is causing a stir among Democrats as his extended flirtation with a third-party presidential run is set to resurface when he headlines an event for No Labels — despite concerns that a possible run would boost former President Trump.
Manchin headlined an event for the middle-of-the-road group — which has been pushing a potential “unity ticket” as a third option in the presidential race — in New Hampshire yesterday.
“We need options,” Manchin said, adding that Democrats have moved too far to the left and Republicans too far to the right.
No Labels’ founder and CEO, Nancy Jacobson, said the group is near its fundraising goal of $70 million, which will go toward its efforts to gain ballot access for its would-be presidential ticket in all 50 states.
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., a Republican, also spoke at the group’s “Common Sense town hall” at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire.
The dream unity ticket seemed anything but unified when it came down to the nuts and bolts.
A top executive of the company that runs former President Trump’s app Truth Social has resigned, Reuters reported, the latest stumble in the app’s struggle to gain traction.
Trump and his allies are planning a sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government if voters return him to the White House, reshaping the structure of the executive branch to concentrate far greater authority directly in his hands.
In a ruling yesterday, the Georgia Supreme Court rejected a long-shot attempt by Trump’s legal team to scuttle an investigation into election interference weeks before indictment decisions are expected.
Biden’s plan B to reduce the over $1.6 trillion that borrowers owe in student loans is already facing pushback, and one House Republican said he’s hopeful the Supreme Court will block the president’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan.
The sister and nephew of Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. disavowed a conspiracy theory he floated last week suggesting that COVID-19 may have been genetically engineered to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.
With the Supreme Court striking down the use of affirmative action in higher education last month, New York colleges have come under pressure to reconsider giving priority to the children of alumni in admissions decisions.
Three Democratic politicians, including New Yorkers Rep. Ritchie Torres and Rep. Dan Goldman, plan to introduce censure measure aimed at first-term Long Island Republican Rep. George Santos.
The resolution from Torres will be privileged, meaning the Republican-controlled House must act on it. Once Torres calls for a vote on the measure, it must be voted on or “tabled” (effectively killing it) within 48 hours.
The move will face long odds of passing the Republican-led House, but Democrats believe it will place pressure on G.O.P. leaders who recently censured Representative Adam Schiff.
At his trial kicking off against the Trump Organization in Manhattan Supreme Court yesterday, Michael Cohen planned to convince a panel of New Yorkers that his former boss’ company should foot the costs for all lawyers involved in the yearslong saga.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams notched major fundraising hauls for their respective reelection bids, their campaigns told POLITICO ahead of the official filing deadline.
Hochul’s re-election campaign announced it had raised $4.5 million over the prior six months, rebuilding her political coffers after she won a full term in 2022. The state Democratic Committee raised $1.5 million during the January to July reporting period.
“I am grateful for the outpouring of support that we have received in our first full term as governor,” Hochul said in a statement.
In a highly publicized bid to take back multiple house seats from Republicans in New York, state Democrats launched a coordinated campaign effort with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Hochul at the helm.
The outside group that backed Hochul’s budget priorities with TV ads and mailers to New Yorkers this year ultimately raised $5.1 million for the effort from only two donors: Mike Bloomberg and John Catsimatidis.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo will seek to recoup millions of dollars in campaign funds that he has used to pay attorneys since 2021 to defend himself in multiple investigations, including a criminal case and two federal harassment lawsuits filed by former aides.
The state Board of Regents unanimously passed new regulations preventing teachers from restraining students face down or isolating them alone in rooms they can’t leave.
New York’s tax revenue dropped by nearly $7 billion in the initial quarter of the state’s fiscal year, a signal money will no longer flow as easily as it has in recent years and potentially complicating budget talks in 2024.
Adams raised an extra $1.3 million for his 2025 reelection bid, amounting to over $2.6 million total cash in Hizzoner’s campaign war chest.
Several prominent New York real estate developers pushing to build a casino in Times Square are among the top donors behind Adams’ campaign fundraising haul over the past six months.
Adams appointed Edward A. Caban as the city’s next police commissioner, who will try to help the mayor deliver on one of his biggest priorities: improving public safety in the nation’s largest city.
“Commissioner Caban is truly one of New York’s finest, a leader who understands the importance of both safety and justice,” Adams said at a press conference, adding that he is “the right choice at the right time.”
“This is an amazing moment not only for the Spanish-speaking community — this is an amazing moment for the entire city and country,” Adams said to a crowd of police officers and city leaders who chanted “Eddie, Eddie, Eddie.”
The feds should take control of the long-troubled Rikers Island jail complex from New York City, the Manhattan U.S. attorney said.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Rikers “has been in crisis for years” over several mayors’ administrations and leaders of the corrections system and he favors a court-appointed outside authority to take charge of the complex.
A Manhattan grand jury has been hearing evidence involving disgraced former city buildings commissioner Eric Ulrich, who resigned last fall during a gambling probe by the district attorney’s office.
As part of the inquiry, prosecutors have examined whether Ulrich received an apartment rental at a below-market rate, as well as a sofa that was given to him or provided at a discount by someone who had business before the department.
The MTA is in the midst of fixing turnstiles to prevent would-be fare jumpers from easily slipping past the gates — costing the transit agency more than $45 million a year.
Drake fans may go thirsty at his Brooklyn concert at the Barclays Center this week if the union that represents the venue’s bartenders, servers and cooks decides to strike in an effort to win better wages and benefits.
Nxivm co-founder Nancy Salzman wants to be immediately sprung from federal prison — telling a judge she’s worried her breast cancer has come back after a “worrisome ultrasound” earlier this year, a court heard yesterday.
Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin spent $125,000 in campaign funds since 2021 to pay for his successful legal defense in a campaign corruption case in which he was acquitted, according to a review of state election financial disclosure statements.
Torrential rainfall Sunday evening caused flash flooding at Saratoga National Historical Park, closing the main entrance and hiking trails indefinitely, according to a news release from the park.
The manager of a Grafton quarry for the R.J. Valente Gravel business was charged with second-degree manslaughter for his allegedly reckless operation of a crane that killed 35-year-old mechanic Darren Miller.
A man who was part of the eight-day Cycle the Erie Canal Bike Tour trek across New York was found dead Sunday morning at the overnight camp ride organizers set up at the Jewish Community Center.
Politico said that its top U.S. editor was stepping down and would be replaced by one of the publication’s co-founders, John Harris, who will also take on additional responsibilities for the media outlet’s international editions.
After nearly three months without a winner, the Powerball jackpot grew yet again last night, to $1 billion, making it the seventh largest in U.S. history. The next drawing will be Wednesday night.
