Good morning, we’re almost through the week. It’s Thursday – one day away from Friday. Hang in there.
A surprising amount of communication – some researchers say as much as 90 percent – is nonverbal, which is to say that we express a heck of a lot more through our body language than with the words that come out of our months.
Body language is a very broad term, generally defined to mean all of the unspoken ways we communicate our true thoughts and feelings. Much of this is very subtle – the title of the chin, the position of the arms, the expression on the face, etc. But some of it is actually quite overt, especially when it comes to hand gestures.
I am one of those people who uses their hands a lot when speaking. In TV terms this is considered too “hot” and distracting.
Now that I’m no longer on TV, but behind the scenes coaching other people who go on camera, my rule of thumb is that if sitting on your hands or overly focusing on NOT using them makes you uncomfortable, that’s going to come across. So, it’s better to act naturally and use them if you have to, just keep them away from your face.
Of course, using specific gestures on camera – like air quotes, thumbs up, peace signs, or (god forbid) flipping the bird – is not the best idea, though I do understand that sometimes these actions speak volumes louder than actual words. And they’re so handy.
Literally.
The origin of hand gestures wasn’t something I thought too terribly much about until I found out that the third Thursday in April, which happens to be today, is National High Five Day. And this got me to thinking: Where the heck did the celebratory practice of smacking one’s palm in the air against another person’s palm – often prefaced by a phrase like “gimme five,” or “gimme some skin,” or “slap me five” – even come from?
No one really can be said to have “invented” a hand gesture that probably morphed out of what was known as the “low five” – a gesture that was part of African American culture dating back at least to the 1920s.
Magic Johnson once claimed credit for transitioning the low five to a high five when he was playing for Michigan State in the 1970s. There was also a story, which turned out to be a hoax, that it originated in Vietnam with a unit nicknamed – what else? – the Five.
The generally accepted origin story dates back to a 1977 Dodgers’ game, when a player named Dusty Baker hit the home run that made the team the first in history to have four players each to have at least 30 regular-season homers. As Baker came around third and headed home, he was greeted by his teammate, Glenn Burke, who offered up the first-ever – though not televised – high five.
High fives and sports celebrations have been synonymous ever since, though these days there are far fancier and more complicated rituals of greeting and showing one’s appreciation – heart hands, anyone?
A yuck day is on tap, with on and off rain and temperatures not even breaking out of the 40s.
In the headlines…
The US Senate dismissed all impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, ending the House Republican push to remove the Cabinet secretary from office over his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Democrats quickly swept aside the articles of impeachment accusing the homeland security secretary of refusing to enforce immigration laws and breach of public trust, calling them unconstitutional.
The blink-and-you-missed-it trial marked the culmination of a mostly failed political gambit hatched by House Republicans seeking to cast the limelight on the Biden administration’s handling of the southern border ahead of the general election.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is facing growing threats to his speakership after announcing that he is sticking with his plan of putting a series of foreign aid bills on the floor, including funding for Ukraine.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., says he is co-sponsoring a resolution by Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, to ust Johnson as frustration grows among blocs of conservative members at the speaker’s proposed foreign aid package.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, President Joe Biden urged the House and Senate to quickly approve Johnson’s multi-part plan to get aid to Israel, Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific.
While both Israel and Ukraine “can capably defend their own sovereignty, they depend on American assistance, including weaponry, to do it, and this is a pivotal moment,” Biden wrote.
“Now is not the time to abandon our friends, the president continued, as he promised the US would not “write blank checks,” to either country.
House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer is accusing the Biden administration of obstructing the impeachment inquiry into the president.
Biden called on his administration to ratchet up pressure on the Chinese steel industry as he brings his economic pitch to Pittsburgh, the heart of the American steel industry, part of a three-day swing through battleground Pennsylvania.
As he campaigned for reelection in the “Steel City” of Pittsburgh, Biden aides said the president was proposing raising to 25% the tariffs imposed by his predecessor Donald Trump on certain Chinese steel and aluminum products.
Biden suggested to cheering, unionized steelworkers that his administration would thwart the acquisition of U.S. Steel by a Japanese company, calling it “an iconic American company for more than a century and it should remain totally American.”.
Biden suggested twice that the United States was unable to recover his uncle Ambrose Finnegan’s remains after Finnegan’s plane crashed near New Guinea during World War II, “because there used to be a lot of cannibals” in the region.
U.S. military records about Finnegan’s death do not mention the aircraft’s being shot or discuss cannibalism. “For unknown reasons, this plane was forced to ditch in the ocean off the north coast of New Guinea,” the records say.
“They never recovered his body, but the government went back when I went down there and they checked and found some parts of the plane,” Biden claimed. The military records, in fact, say the three men killed in the crash were not found.
Biden stopped at Sheetz with Pittsburgh-area leaders to pick up sandwiches for construction workers during his visit yesterday.
In a letter received by Republican digital vendors this week, the Trump campaign is asking for down-ballot candidates who use his name, image and likeness in fundraising appeals to give at least 5 percent of the proceeds to the campaign.
Campaign aides said the new rules are designed to protect donors who believe they are contributing to Trump’s campaign but are instead giving money to another candidate who is using the former president’s name or picture – sometimes without permission.
Polish President Andrzej Duda said he met privately with Trump yesterday. The Trump campaign described the two men as “great friends” and said they discussed a proposal by Duda that NATO countries spend a minimum of 3% of their GDP on defense.
According to a readout provided by the Trump campaign, the two-and–a-half-hour dinner took place at Trump’s apartment at Trump Tower, where the former president is staying while attending his New York hush money trial.
The Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. said that Israel must respond to Iranian strikes on the country, brushing off warnings from American leaders and other allies fearful of a regional war between the two powers.
Israeli officials say they didn’t see a strike on a high-level Iranian target in Syria as a provocation, and did not give Washington a heads-up about it until right before it happened.
The top diplomats from Britain and Germany were in Jerusalem, working to persuade Israel to avoid a response to Iran that could drag the region into a broader war.
The United Nations appealed for $2.8 billion to provide desperately needed aid to Gaza, where Palestinians face a possible looming famine while the Israeli military continues to carry out deadly strikes.
Under pressure from the U.S. and other allies to flood the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid, Israel insists it’s doing everything it can, and it blames the United Nations for the starvation of thousands of Palestinians in the war-torn enclave.
More than 100 pro-Palestinian students occupied the main lawn of Columbia University, as college president Minouche Shafik defended before Congress her handling of rising campus antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war.
Members of the GOP-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce grilled Shafik on the school’s response to campus protests and controversial chants, demanding greater discipline against students and faculty who defend Hamas or reject Israel.
Shafik agreed that antisemitism has been a serious problem on campus. “It is not tolerated and it is not acceptable,” said said, “and over the last six months we have done everything we can and have worked tirelessly to improve our policies and our enforcement.”
Columbia University’s president strongly denounced antisemitism during a congressional hearing today, saying that after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, “the world changed, and so did my focus.”
For Shafik, the hearing on antisemitism went relatively well. But on campus, intense protests suggest a difficult road ahead for the university.
North Country GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik was already a rising star within her party, but her grilling of the presidents of Harvard, Penn and M.I.T. at a December hearing became a defining moment.
Antisemitic hate crimes in New York City have spiked as conflict continues to rage in the Middle East. As of Sunday, there have been 96 hate-fueled incidents targeting Jewish people, according to NYPD stats. The figure marked a 45% uptick.
An early-morning cyberattack affected the New York State Bill Drafting Commission, temporarily disabling a critical system as the Legislature and the governor move closer to a full agreement on the state budget, now 16 days late.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said that the attack was expected to slow down the process on the legislative side, adding that it would force the state to dust off computer systems from the early ’90s.
Officials did not release any details on the origin of the cyberattack or how it unfolded. Legislative sources also expressed confidence the state budget would not be further delayed by the cyberattack.
State officials are considering a last-minute push to alter implementation of the upcoming, controversial requirements for private schools, including yeshivas, to meet certain education standards, according to a source familiar with the budget negotiations.
A legislative package boosting New York City in its battle against the estimated 2,500 unlicensed cannabis shops operating citywide has been secured in state budget negotiations, lawmakers said.
State officials celebrated the opening of New York’s 100th brick-and-mortar marijuana store yesterday in New Paltz as cannabis retail shops continue opening at an accelerated pace that’s still far behind what regulators had projected by now.
New York’s transparency watchdog found that the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government violated open records law by redacting its own recusal forms.
Family members of prison inmates are suing the New York City Department of Correction over the recording and monitoring of telecommunications at the city’s jails, alleging violations of the rights of both inmates and community members.
Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to appoint controversial attorney Randy Mastro, who worked in Rudy Giuliani’s City Hall, as the city’s top lawyer faces headwinds in the City Council. There’s widespread distaste for Mastro within the legislative body.
“On the grounds of his role in the Chevron case in Ecuado…I cannot trust his judgment when it comes to New York City’s future,” Brooklyn Councilwoman Sandy Nurse, co-chair of the Council’s Progressive Caucus, said of Mastro.
Top mayoral aide Timothy Pearson is facing a new lawsuit linked to his alleged sexual harassment of retired Sgt. Roxanne Ludemann that includes allegations of a curious remark about the aborted construction of a migrant shelter.
This is the second time in a month that Pearson has been sued over accusations that he harassed and retaliated against a New York Police Department sergeant he oversaw.
One of Adams’ fundraising entities fired the security and private investigative firm run by longtime friend and donor Bo Dietl shortly after Dietl berated a POLITICO reporter.
Adams’ legal defense trust has spent more than $743,000 on lawyer fees so far and had the hired onetime mayoral hopeful Dietl’s private detective firm to vet donations to the fund.
“I’m not going to curse anymore. I went to my priest today and did an act of contrition,” Dietl told the Daily News in an evening phone call from Il Postino on the Upper East Side, where he said he was having dinner.
City Hall asked top staffers to get creative and write poems about their agencies for the little-known national “Poem in your Pocket” day — an exercise some said perfected the art of time-wasting.
Empty retail space in New York City has nearly doubled since the pandemic, according to data released yesterday — as officials warned the troubling vacant storefronts aren’t going away.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said the MTA will send mitigation money to New Jersey as part of a final congestion pricing plan that has been submitted to the federal government.
A federal judge cut the troubled grandson of former Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro a break, sentencing him to five years in prison after he shot his ex-girlfriend and nearly killed her.
A legal challenge has been filed to knock Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez off the left-leaning Working Families Party ballot line in the Nov. 5 general election – part of a coordinated effort to diminish the WFP’s influence and presence in The Bronx.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman is trailing in the fundraising battle with his Democratic primary battle challenger George Latimer. Newly released FEC documents revealed Bowman raised $1.3 million in the first quarter of 2024, compared to $2.2 million for Latimer.
A state agency found no probable cause that the city of Albany discriminated against an employee who was a domestic violence victim when the city fired her in May.
A 62-year-old man was arrested after he allegedly struck and killed a 10-year-old girl who was crossing the street in Brooklyn, police said.
Hundreds of ballerinas set a new world record at the Plaza Hotel in Midtown, for the most ballet dancers en pointe, or standing on their tiptoes, simultaneously. The final tally of dancers was 353, breaking the previous world record of 306 dancers en pointe.
An Albany police officer was shot and wounded and the suspect died of a gunshot wound after a gun battle early yesterday morning following an attempted traffic stop in the Pine Hills neighborhood just after midnight.
The 9-year-old whose kidnapping and rescue riveted the nation last fall had a message for Craig N. Ross Jr., who was sentenced to spend at least a half-century in prison for his crimes against her: “I felt alone. Now you will be alone, too.”
Amitral “AJ” Simon Jr., a standout player during the University at Albany football program’s memorable 2023 season and potential NFL draft pick, has died at the age of 25. The cause of his death was not immediately known.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
