Good morning, it’s Monday, and a brand new month is upon us.
Happy Pride! (I’ve been saving this hero image for a while now, waiting for the perfect moment to post it – and here we are!)
I know we’ve been down the “why is June Pride Month” before, but they say that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (That oft-misquoted statement is, in fact, appropriately attributed to the Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana, FWIW).
And, given the rather distressing current state of the world, in which we seem to be moving backwards away from equity and losing much of the hard-fought ground that advocates gained over the years, it seems more than worthwhile to revisit the origin story of this particular observance.
What is now a monthlong worldwide celebration began in 1970 with Gay Pride Week, which marked the first anniversary of the June 28, 1969 police raid on the now-iconic Stonewall Inn, a gay bar that was owned by the Mafia, which sparked a series of protests that lasted almost a week and is widely accepted as a turning point in the gay rights movement.
The first anniversary of the riots was marked by demonstrations in several cities across the country, which was the start of an annual tradition that has grown to become to include Gay Pride Marches, educational programming, forums, protests, proclamations – basically everything you can think of.
In 1999, then-President Bill Clinton declared the June anniversary of the Stonewall riots as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month”. In 2011, then-president Barack Obama expanded Pride Month to include every facet of the LGBTQIA+ community.
The rainbow flag is a seemingly timeless and ubiquitous Pride symbol, but it has gone through many iterations and now includes several versions.
The original flag featured eight colors – including two that aren’t typically seen in the ex-color version used today: Pink and turquoise – and it flew during the 1978 San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. The flag maker – the artist Gilbert Baker – was reportedly inspired by the Rolling Stone’s son She’s a Rainbow and also the 1960s peace movement.
Pride had added significance here in New York as New York City is home to The Stonewall National Monument, which was established at the site in 2016. The annual Pride March, which will kick off at 25th Street and 5th Avenue, will occur on June 30.
This year’s Pride are taking place under a dark cloud, as dozens of states have passed or are debating and in the processing of passing new laws curtailing LGBTQ+ rights. Transgender young people, in particular, are being targeted.
We were blessed with two absolutely stellar days, weather wise, this weekend. Low humidity, lots of sun, blue skies. Just perfect. Today will be a bit warmer, with temperatures reaching into the high 80s. Skies will be partly cloudy.
In the headlines…
Declaring Hamas no longer capable of carrying out a major terrorist attack on Israel, President Biden said it was time for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and endorsed a new plan he said Israel offered to win the release of hostages and end the fighting.
For months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has refused to offer a timeline for ending the war against Hamas in Gaza, a stance his critics see as a political tactic. But he has been put on the spot by Biden’s outlining of a proposal for a truce.
An aide to Israeli Netanyahu said Israel had agreed to the framework for Biden’s plan to bring an end to the war in Gaza, though he said it was “not a good deal.”
Netanyahu indicated that he planned to accept an invitation to address a joint meeting of Congress in Washington, saying he wanted to “present the truth about our just war against those who seek to destroy us.”
In a post to X, formerly known as Twitter, Netanyahu wrote that he was looking forward to the opportunity to “present the truth” to Congress about the “just war” that Israel has been waging in Gaza since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
Israel’s defense minister outlined a framework for a “governing alternative” to Hamas in the Gaza Strip after a briefing at the military’s southern command.
Claudia Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, won her nation’s elections yesterday in a landslide victory that brought a double milestone: She became the first woman, and the first Jewish person, to be elected president of Mexico.
Sheinbaum obtained between 58.3% and 60.7% of the vote, according to a statistical sample used to conduct the quick count. It was announced early this morning by Guadalupe Taddei Zavala of Mexico’s National Electoral Institute.
Sheinbaum responded to the announcement of her projected victory in Mexico’s presidential election early this morning, saying her administration would govern all Mexicans “without distinction,” even though not everyone supports her policies.
Sixteen thousand people erupted into rapture when Donald Trump walked into the Prudential Center in Newark at 10 p.m. Saturday – his first public outing since his conviction – to attend an UFC match. He stayed until the grisly end, at 1:15 a.m.
Trump, Republican frontrunner and now convicted felon, said Friday he wanted to testify in his own defense at his hush money trial but was worried about getting sued over what he might have said on the stand.
The story of the Trump Tower doorman in the hush money saga is often overlooked amid Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal’s tales of Trumpian trysts. But as America gained its first felon ex-president, Dino Sajudin assumed his place in the history books.
Trump has joined TikTok. His first video, posted on Saturday night, shows him arriving at a UFC 302 fight. The move to TikTok comes despite Trump’s previous attempts to ban the app as President in 2020.
Trump surpassed the Biden campaign’s TikTok followers in less than 24 hours after launching the account.
A few hours after winning a case that will forever define him, Alvin L. Bragg sent an email to his staff at the Manhattan DA’s office, thanking those not on the Trump trial team for their patience and pledging to return to “normal operations” as quickly as possible.
Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, a staunch critic of the former president, on Saturday accused Bragg of committing “political malpractice” by pursuing criminal charges against Trump.
Legislative efforts to rename Donald J. Trump State Park in northern Westchester County have failed so far, but some lawmakers want to try again now that he has become the first American president to be convicted of a felony.
Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday urged the Supreme Court to intervene in Trump’s appeal of his felony conviction, by overturning the decision and granting him immunity from prosecution.
Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips sparked controversy this weekend after the Democrat called on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to pardon Trump, just days after the former president was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
“(Trump) is a serial liar, cheater, and philanderer, a six-time declarer of corporate bankruptcy, an instigator of insurrection, and a convicted felon who thrives on portraying himself as a victim,” Phillips said. “(Hochul) should pardon him for the good of the country.”
Former New York Republican Gov. George Pataki and former Democratic Gov. David Paterson both criticized the prosecution of Trump — and both governors warned it could boomerang on Biden and other Democrats.
Hunter Biden will go on trial on gun charges today in Delaware within walking distance of his father’s campaign headquarters in Wilmington, less than a week after Trump’s felony conviction in New York.
This is the first time in American history that the child of the sitting president is going on trial. The indictment was brought by the Justice Department, specifically by David Weiss, the special counsel appointed last year to oversee the Hunter Biden probes.
The two federal judges who will preside over Hunter Biden’s criminal trials now and in September — Maryellen Noreika of Wilmington, Delaware, and Mark Scarsi of Los Angeles — have a lot in common. To start, they are both Trump appointees.
Live Nation confirmed in a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday that its subsidiary Ticketmaster has suffered a data breach.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo offered some advice to Mayor Adams and Hochul on a radio show this past weekend, saying leaders need to “show people progress” — and further fueling speculation that he’s considering a run at mayor, governor, or possibly both.
Despite Hochul’s pledge to provide significant legal resources to help migrants obtain legal status to work, a report of the state’s financial plan indicates 5 percent of the $4.3 billion she and state lawmakers authorized will go toward legal services and casework.
The state ethics watchdog agency has subpoenaed Hochul’s economic development agency for records related to top Albany politicians’ use of a Buffalo Bills luxury suite.
A state bill to create the “New York State Preceptor Stipend Program,” to provide stipends to nurses and other health care workers who mentor students during their required clinical work, drew support from its sponsors Friday.
Basil Seggos, who this spring stepped down as the state’s longest-serving commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, has joined the climate and energy section of a law firm with multiple offices.
A Republican state lawmaker in his first term representing parts of the Capital Region, Scott Bendett, from Sand Lake, was reprimanded Friday by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie for an insensitive comment he made to an international intern.
Activists have renewed attention on legislation related to the emotional issue of so-called medical aid in dying that has long languished in Albany.
As many as seven of New York’s 26 seats are considered competitive in November. But before Democrats and Republicans face each other in the general election, a number of contentious congressional primaries.
The long-standing relationship between Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Mayor Eric Adams has devolved into a bitter power struggle, according to more than a dozen sources with knowledge of the fallout.
More than 2,300 doctors-in-training who work for NYC’s hospital system will be getting a 16.2% pay hike, Mayor Adams announced Saturday.
New York City will spend at least $225 million on building a new facility in Queens where training for the NYPD and other municipal enforcement agencies is set to be centralized as part of a new “Public Safety Academy,” the Adams administration announced,
As New York City prepares to roll out its tolling program on June 30, the divide between those who love their cars and those who embrace their subway lines has only grown.
There’s no escaping the MTA’s new $15 congestion toll to enter Midtown — even for local residents who don’t drive a car.
Thousands of pro-Israel demonstrators marched along Fifth Avenue yesterday during a heavily policed Israel Day parade that took on a more somber tone this year as the war in Gaza enters its eighth month.
Sunday’s Big Apple celebration of Israel went off despite a tense climate of antisemitism looming over the five boroughs in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish state by Hamas.
Adams said at the start of the annual Israel Day parade that he resisted pressure to cancel the event, and believes most New Yorkers supported it.
A fight is unfolding over a proposal for a new 14-story building across the street from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden — just three years after community advocates sunk plans for an even larger development at the same location.
Embattled ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani celebrated his 80th birthday Friday night with family and close friends from his days at City Hall — a marked departure from a previous bash earlier this month.
A notorious political firebrand running for City Council in Brooklyn, Harold “Heshy” Tischler, is being probed by the city after being caught on video offering to treat an FDNY inspector to “the best corned beef and pastrami sandwiches on the planet.”
The New York Blood Center has issued a blood emergency, as hospitals scramble to fill their blood banks. In the last three weeks, donations were 2,100 pints short of what is needed at area hospitals, according to the blood center.
A fox that officials believed was responsible for biting three people last week was caught and found to be rabid, Montgomery County officials said.
A restaurant co-owner is hospitalized with a head injury and a city resident sits in jail facing multiple charges including a hate crime as a result of a confrontation last week outside a Madison Avenue sushi bar.
Drivers will soon see a “No Loitering Soliciting Panhandling” sign where Interstate 890 enters downtown Schenectady, county lawmakers announced.
Horse racing fans booking rooms at the last minute in the Spa City for the weeklong Belmont Stakes Racing Festival may need to dig deep into their pockets — especially if they want to stay at one of the tonier lodgings.
The executive editor of The Washington Post, Sally Buzbee, will leave, a major and sudden change at one of the pre-eminent news organizations in the US. Matt Murray, the former editor in chief of The WSJ, will take her place through the presidential election.
Nonagenarian right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch married Elena Zhukova, 67, over the weekend in California. Murdoch, 93, has now been married five times.
Simone Biles clinched the top spot at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships with a total score of 119.750 (60.450 on Day 1, 59.300 on Day 2). She also swept every individual event title
Photo credit: George Fazio.
