Good Thursday morning.
Warning: The topic of today’s post is pretty much a bummer. If you’re under a cloud these days and looking for something uplifting and encouraging, you might want to give today’s topic a hard pass.
I had my share of childhood complaints, but escaped largely unscathed when it came to bullying. I remember a few incidents that did leave a mark – one of them involved an antisemitic remark that I cannot bring to repeat here and was all the more shocking coming from the mouth of a 5th grader.
I recall telling my parents about it, but I don’t really remember how the school dealt with it. The repercussions couldn’t have been too harsh, though, or I probably would recall them. There was no suspension or even detention involved, to my recollection, though the word was never again repeated by this kid in my presence.
He went on to be a football player and a fairly successful finance bro. We were friendly enough in high school, and I think he dated the (Jewish) sister of a friend of mine briefly, but I didn’t keep up with him enough to have any idea where he ended up – or how.
That incident, though searing, was a one-off. There was also a brief period after my family returned from living in Japan for a year that a classmate – a boy whose name I remember and who is now a fairly prominent member of my hometown community, so I will refrain from outing him here – used to follow me around and sing this song in a taunting voice.
At that time in my life, I had a rather unfortunate (and unflattering) feathered bowl haircut – the sort that looked great on Mary Lou Retton, who hopefully will pull out of the life-threatening pneumonia she is currently battling, but horrible on pre-pubescent me.
This was certainly an unpleasant experience, but it thankfully didn’t last long, and it didn’t morph into something full-scale in which I was ostracized or ganged up on. Now, if this had occurred in the age of the internet, web cams, and social media, with embarrassing photos posted of me all over the place, well, maybe things would have been different.
Bullying today occurs on a whole different plane.
Today is Spirit Day, which was created in response to a series of high-profile bullying-related suicides of gay teens that took place in 2010 – including the death of Tyler Clementi, whose story (if you’re of a certain age) you may well recall. (In short: he was 18 when he jumped off the George Washington Bridge after footage of him kissing another man that had been secretly recorded by his college roommate was posted on Twitter).
There have been far too many stories like this. Spirit Day, which GLADD says is “the world’s most visible anti-bullying movement inspiring LGBTQ youth, especially transgender and nonbinary youth to live their lives in their truth and authenticity,” aims to end this phenomenon. People all over the world wear purple on this day to demonstrate their solidarity and support.
Spirit Day takes place during National Bullying Prevention Month, and given the state of the world at the moment, we could all stand to take a moment and think about being nicer to one another.
Another partly cloudy day is in the cards, with temperatures in the mid-to-high 60s. Enjoy the dry-ish weather while you can, because the weekend is looking (again, sigh) pretty darn soggy.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden will address the American public tonight at 8 p.m. on Washington’s response to the Hamas terror attacks and Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, the White House says.
Biden headed home yesterday after a wartime trip to Israel, where he forcefully vowed that the United States would stand fast with Israel in its war against Hamas, and unveiled a newly brokered deal to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza from Egypt.
The administrator of a Gazan hospital rocked by a deadly explosion on Tuesday night has said that the Israeli military repeatedly warned the hospital’s management in recent days to evacuate the site.
A State Department official involved with transferring arms to key American allies resigned from his post, saying that “shortsighted decisions” by the Biden administration contributed to his having to make an unbearable moral compromise.
The United States has vetoed a draft resolution at the UN Security Council which called for a humanitarian pause in besieged Gaza – sparking more criticism of political paralysis in the powerful global body.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak landed in Israel this morning for meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, Sunak’s office says.
Sunak will press for a swift opening of a humanitarian aid route in Gaza and for British citizens trapped there to be able to leave, his office said. He is also set to travel to other countries in the region, though it’s unclear which leaders he would meet with.
Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib refused to apologize for saying on Tuesday that Israel is to blame for the hospital explosion that day in Gaza, an accusation that sparked political backlash against her from Republicans as Israel denies fault.
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan lost a second vote for the speakership yesterday, and said the plan is for the House to gather again for a third speaker vote at noon today.
Jordan’s 199 votes mark the first time in 100 years that the majority nominee got less than 200 votes. Four Republicans in New York’s congressional delegation were once again among the 20-plus GOP members to vote against Jordan.
As they face intense pressure from their left and right flanks, a group of New York moderate Republicans that has mostly navigated key decisions as a bloc has increasingly begun to splinter, with four bucking their party and voting against Jordan.
House Republican supporters of a resolution to temporarily empower interim Speaker Patrick McHenry are reportedly working to maximize GOP votes and educate members about the effort.
Many lawmakers have grown deeply alarmed about the absence of an elected speaker as wars are raging in Israel and Ukraine and the government is within weeks of shutting down if Congress fails to reach a spending agreement.
House rules require that the speaker receive a majority of votes cast, a threshold that Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat and the House minority leader, failed to reach despite receiving the most votes (212).
American families saw the largest jump in their wealth on record between 2019 and 2022, according to new Federal Reserve data, as rising stock indexes, climbing home prices and repeated rounds of government stimulus left people’s finances healthier.
Median net worth climbed 37 percent over those three years after adjusting for inflation, the Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances showed — the biggest jump in records stretching back to 1989.
A digital-age dirty-trickster who used Twitter posts that looked like Hillary Clinton ads to spread false information before the 2016 presidential election was sentenced this week to seven months in prison.
Former President Donald Trump made another appearance yesterday at his civil fraud trial, marking the second time this week that he has voluntarily attended the proceeding at the Manhattan courthouse.
A court employee was arrested after she stood up during the proceedings and walked toward the front of the courtroom, “yelling out to Trump indicating she wanted to assist him,” according to a spokesperson for the New York State Unified Court System.
Trump’s firehose of civil and criminal encumbrances is beginning to keep him off the campaign trail — and he wants everybody to know it, reinforcing the degree to which his legal travails and his political strategy are intersecting.
Trump endorsed Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia for senator, in a race that is widely viewed as a prime pickup opportunity as Republicans seek to reclaim control of the Senate.
Clinton is adding some razzle-dazzle to her résumé as a Broadway producer. Clinton has joined the team backing “Suffs,” a new musical about the women’s suffrage movement, as has Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Gov. Kathy Hochul embarked on an impromptu trip to Israel that she acknowledged would have no geopolitical impact on an escalating war 5,700 miles away from the state she leads.
“Today I saw pain, hurt, and mourning — but I also saw the incredible strength of the Jewish people,” Hochul said in a message posted on X, formerly Twitter.
A nonprofit organization is funding travel costs for Hochul and her staff, and the state is covering the costs for her security detail, a spokesperson for the governor said.
Scores of New Yorkers, some clutching photos of missing relatives, joined elected officials in a call for the release of every hostage taken during the Hamas terror attacks in Israel.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand says there is no room for hate in any classroom in New York and therefore Cornell University should fire a professor caught on camera making pro-Hamas comments.
The Legal Aid Society excoriated Hochul’s administration for recently supporting the city’s push to suspend the legal requirement that it provide shelter to those in need as the migrant influx rages on.
Hochul’s administration has a challenging path ahead to keep the state’s ambitious renewable energy goals within reach and cement her green credentials.
Tracey Edwards, Long Island regional director of the NAACP, has resigned from the state Public Service Commission and will begin working at the Las Vegas Sands corporation as a senior vice president later this month.
In her book, “What’s Left Unsaid: My Life at the Center of Power, Politics & Crisis,” Melissa DeRosa claims AG Letitia James slimed the first woman to accuse then Gov. Cuomo of sexual misconduct as “not credible”, and flagged doubts about a second accuser.
More than 10 school districts across New York state were the victim of another wave of unfounded threats, known as “swatting,” Hochul’s office said.
Auburn Mayor Michael Quill and Owasco Supervisor Ed Wagner delivered an urgent message to Hochul: Don’t let Cayuga County become the next Flint, Michigan.
Maple syrup and honey are New York staples, but in an audit of the Nourish New York program, the comptroller’s office found they were commonly excluded as eligible products to purchase with state money.
Last Thursday, Mayor Eric Adams showed up to a Zoom meeting with Muslim advocates anxious to express their concerns about his statements over the war between Hamas and Israel, but participants left with more worries than when the meeting began.
Adams called for stricter enforcement of e-bike riders and others, following an advocacy group’s report that cycling deaths are on track for their highest level in almost a quarter century.
Adams announced the signing of a bill that requires all vehicles in the city’s fleet to be zero-emissions vehicles after 2038.
A mere 2,100 migrants in the Big Apple’s care have applied for work permits — with not a single one yet to receive federal approval, city officials admitted.
Most migrant families with children live in shelters overseen by the Department of Homeless Services, which is bound by regulations laid out by the state’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, and not bound by the 60-day rule.
One of Adams’ top advisors, Tim Pearson, a retired police inspector, grabbed a migrant shelter guard by her neck and threw her to the ground, according to an eyewitness statement obtained by THE CITY. He also shoved another guard, the same report alleges.
A 30-year-old woman was in critical condition after being pushed into a moving subway train in Manhattan by a man whom law enforcement officials described as emotionally disturbed.
Several New York City landlords and brokers are routinely barring tenants from renting apartments if they rely on government assistance to help pay for it, a new report by housing advocates alleges.
New York City is on track to complete only about 11,000 new housing units this year, half the number built in 2022 and a fraction of what is needed to deal with the city’s housing crisis, according to the New York Building Congress.
An analysis finds the city has lost more than 100,000 homes through smaller apartments being combined into larger ones.
New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission will lift its cap on new licenses for for-hire vehicles starting today, so long as they’re issued to fully electric cars.
After switching from Democrat to Republican, Brooklyn Councilman Ari Kagan is advocating for a ban on elective abortions, even though he helped pass legislation last year requiring the city to provide free medical abortion pills to anyone who asks.
A plan to move more than 360 detainees with serious mental and physical health conditions off Rikers and into state-of-the-art therapeutic beds in borough-based hospitals has been delayed years with no clear completion date in sight, city jails officials say.
Unlock NYC, a nonprofit focused on housing, released a list of so-called “serial discriminators,” naming 23 corporate owners and real estate companies it says allegedly discriminated against tenants with government subsidies more than 10 times since 2018.
Harlem’s first legal cannabis dispensary finally opened its doors after getting delayed by a statewide battle over New York’s legal weed rollout. Gotham Buds, at 248 W. 125th St, joins the handful of legal, state-licensed dispensaries now open in New York City.
Rite Aid is expected to close at least 26 stores in New York state after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
National Grid has been awarded a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to study the electric charging needs for commercial trucks traveling the Northeast transportation corridor.
Saying the flap is costing them in the six-figure range, Two Buttons Deep operators say they’ll finish 2023 without advertising or sponsorships in the wake of criticism about a transphobic remark heard in a video clip posted on its social media accounts.
The founders of the entity formerly called the African American Cultural Center of the Capital Region are rebooting the center’s mission under a new name.
The Martin Group, a Buffalo-based marketing firm with a large presence in the Capital Region, is expanding its local base after acquiring a Cohoes branding and marketing firm called Spiral Design Studio.
