Good Wednesday morning.
I know there’s often no rhyme or reason to why a day has been designated in honor of one thing or another. Sometimes, of course, it marks a particular milestone, historic event, someone’s birthday or passing, etc. And sometimes – usually when it’s a marketing-driven effort – it’s complete arbitrary.
It tickles me, though, when seemingly unrelated – or even diametrically opposed – recognition days rub up against one another. Today is one of those days.
Since 2010, the day before Valentine’s Day has been known as “Galentine’s Day” – an opportunity for women to acknowledge and celebrate their female friendships. This practice has its roots in the hit TV series “Parks & Recreation,” and was the brainchild of the character Leslie Knope, played by Amy Poehler, who invented the holiday in Season 2, episode 16.
Apparently, Valentine’s Day spending is on track to hit new highs this year, with consumers expected to shell out a record-breaking $27.5 billion dollars, according to the Nation Retail Federation. That breaks down to about $188 per person.
I couldn’t find any specific spending information or predictions for Galentine’s Day, specifically, but I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that some of that whopping $27.5 billion number is surely women purchasing things for their gal pals – or at least shelling out for drinks, food, and decorations, either out on the town or for their at-home celebrations.
Galentine’s Day, just like the name suggests, is a women-only event. As Poehler-playing-Knope memorably said: “It’s the best day of the year,” when “my lady friends and I leave our husbands and boyfriends at home and we just come and kick it breakfast style.”
And that’s why it’s so amusing that today is also International Condom Day, established by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) in 2009, to raise awareness about how proper use of prophylactics, rubbers, happy hats, raincoats or whatever you want to call them can be incredibly effective in preventing the transmission of pregnancy and STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) and/or STIs (sexually transmitted infections).
According to Planned Parenthood, condoms are 98 percent effective at preventing pregnancy when used perfectly (that last 2 percent is due to the potential for ripping or tearing). No one, as we know, is perfect, so the contraceptive is actually about 85 to 87 percent effective, which means about 13 of every 100 people who use condoms as their only birth control will conceive.
While condoms are not 100 percent effective at preventing STDs and/or STIs – after all, they don’t cover ALL of your private parts, which are vulnerable to infection – it’s 100 percent true that you get a heck of a lot better protection using them than not.
The most recent statistics from the CDC indicate that 1 in 5 people in the U.S. has an STI – a fair percentage of those individuals are 65 years old or older, which on the one hand is great news – people over a certain age still have sex! – but since they’re no longer concerned about pregnancy risks, they get a little lax in the protection department.
Apparently, another population among which condom use is on the decline is teenagers. According to the WHO, the rate of unprotected sex among this vulnerable group is “worryingly high.” Says the WHO:
“Compared to 2014 levels, the new data show a significant decline in the number of adolescents reporting condom use during last sexual intercourse. From the data, it is clear that the decrease in condom use is pervasive, spanning multiple countries and regions, with some experiencing more dramatic reductions than others.”
WARNING: Soapbox moment ahead.
Given the aforementioned statistics, you might think that adults would be doubling down on the education front regarding all things related to sex – because the reality is that many hormone-driven young people are going to engage in this sort of activity whether we urge them to wait or not. Better that they have the information about how to do it safely, in my opinion.
However, New York does NOT require comprehensive, age appropriate sex ed in its public schools, though there is a bill kicking around the Legislature that would right this wrong. As a result, some schools don’t teach sex ed at all, while others are using curricula that is inaccurate, stigmatizing, or biased, according to NYCLU.
All I can say here is: DO BETTER NEW YORK. Knowledge is powder. I suffered through “how to use a condom” demonstrations in health class, and I somehow managed to get through high school unscathed.
Good news: It’s going to be warmer today (with a high of around 40 degrees). Bad news: We’re going to start off with a wintry mix of precipitation that could make the morning commute and issue. In fact, there’s a winter weather advisory in place for some parts of the reading area – including the Capital Region – through 1 p.m.
In the headlines…
President Donald Trump upended three years of U.S. policy toward Ukraine yesterday, saying that he and Russian leader Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin negotiations on ending the war following a sudden prisoner swap.
Ukraine and its allies are untangling how the new push from Trump and Putin to end the war could play out, with fears that the process could sideline Ukrainian officials and seek concessions unacceptable to them.
The Trump administration moved yesterday to close entries for the deferred resignation program for federal workers and continue to next steps, after a federal judge’s assent.
US District Judge George A. O’Toole ruled that the union groups suing to block the so-called “Deferred Resignation” program lacked standing and that his Massachusetts-based court lacked the jurisdiction to proceed with the lawsuit.
Judicial rulings have unfrozen some federally funded grants awaited by nonprofits, states and companies, but the reprieve has been uneven and many fear the relief is only temporary.
Spending that the White House does not like is being labeled fraudulent. At the same time, Trump is rolling back anticorruption efforts and ethical standards for himself and allies like Elon Musk.
Tesla, whose chief executive, Musk, has been advising Trump on how to cut government spending, is likely to receive a lucrative contract to supply armored versions of its Cybertruck pickup to the State Department, according to public documents.
Senate Republicans easily pushed their budget resolution out of committee yesterday – the first step toward being able to enact Trump’s massive domestic policy agenda.
The House GOP’s budget resolution is hanging in the balance as a handful of hardliners withhold support for the measure, setting the stage for a high-stakes committee vote today.
Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) warned of “big, lingering concerns” with Trump’s tariff plan.
Trump’s ascension to chair of the Kennedy Center yesterday led to multiple departures from the Washington, D.C., institution.
Trump was elected by a Kennedy Center board that excluded the 18 Democratic appointees purged by the president last week. New board members include the Vice President’s wife, Usha Vance as well as the president’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced he’s found $20 billion in taxpayer money that the Biden administration “parked” at a financial institution — in an apparent effort to prevent the Trump administration from cutting grants to “far-left activist groups.”
U.S. . Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing New York state, Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James, accusing them of shielding illegal immigrants by failing to comply with immigration policy.
“This is a new DOJ. We are taking steps to protect American citizens. As you know, we sued Illinois, and New York didn’t listen…you’re next,” Bondi said at her first press conference as attorney general.
The U.S. DOJ filed a lawsuit against New York’s Green Light Law, which has allowed nonresident immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses while blocking federal immigration and border enforcement agencies from accessing the state’s motor vehicle database.
Bondi appeared alongside Tammy Nobles, whose 20-year-old daughter was killed in Aberdeen, Maryland, in July 2022 by someone from El Salvador who entered the country illegally months earlier in Texas.
Hochul “has been clear from day one: she supports deporting violent criminals who break our laws, believes that law-abiding families should not be targets, and will coordinate with federal authorities who have a judicial warrant,” a spokesman said.
Hochul’s plan to send checks to middle income New Yorkers is getting pushback from her own party — as state lawmakers say there are better ways to spend the money.
Republican US Rep. Nicole Malliotakis is asking the DOJ to shut down two controversial New York City-approved “safe” injection sites — where users can use illegal drugs like meth, heroin and cocaine under supervision.
Linda Sun, a former aide to two New York governors (Hochul and Andrew Cuomo), and her husband are facing additional charges in a case accusing her of acting as an agent of the Chinese government.
New York state is chipping in millions to help Suffolk County’s expansion and rehabilitation efforts at MacArthur Airport, Hochul announced.
Owners of the defunct Big Chief Smoke Shop in Bay Ridge, which the state shut down for selling marijuana without a license at the end of 2023, have been slapped with $6 million in penalties for repeat violations of the state’s cannabis law.
Mayor Eric Adams got a lifeline from Trump when federal prosecutors moved to dismiss a sweeping corruption case against the Democrat. But in New York City, where the president remains a toxic figure, the legal reprieve comes at a high cost.
Adams of New York City has quietly explored running in this spring’s Republican primary as he searches for a path to a second term, according to one Republican official and two people familiar with his deliberations.
In a statement to the New York Times, Adams insisted that he is not running for re-election as a Republican. (The rules say he can run on the GOP line without changing his party affiliation if Republican leaders give him permission to do so).
Adams is set to meet today with Border Czar Tom Homan about removing migrants from New York City, just as Comptroller Brad Lander said that the Trump administration illegally revoked $80 million in FEMA funds from the city’s bank accounts.
Liz Garcia, a spokeswoman for Adams, said that City Hall had communicated with the White House and had requested an emergency meeting with FEMA to “try and resolve the matter as quickly as possible.”
Homan is “not happy” about the Big Apple’s lack of action to help Trump’s immigration crackdown, sources said, setting up what could be a contentious second meeting with Adams.
Days after the DOJ ordered federal prosecutors to drop the corruption case against Adams, his lawyer Alex Spiro claimed total vindication on Adams’ behalf, while denying accusations that the arrangement could leave Adams beholden to Trump.
With a clear directive from D.C. to drop its case, the storied Southern District of New York doesn’t have many options to continue its investigation into Adams.
Good Samaritans helped a 25-year-old expectant mom deliver a baby girl on board a southbound W train in Manhattan yesterday morning, according to officials and social media videos. The new mother is a Florida woman who had been missing for months.
An NYPD police lieutenant who shot and killed a man after pulling him over for not wearing a seatbelt should be fired, a police administrative judge recommended in a rare ruling that will ultimately go to Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch for a final decision.
The last two elephants at the Bronx Zoo should be immediately moved to an animal sanctuary, a group of Big Apple lawyers contended as questions about the pair’s care continue to swirl.
New York City bodegas are selling “loosie”-style eggs — just a few packaged in a plastic bag instead of a carton, à la notorious single cigarettes — as bird flu shortages send the prices of cartons skyrocketing.
The MTA slapped new metal shields atop a row of turnstiles at a Manhattan subway station in their latest effort to curb fare evasion — but at least one law-breaking rider last night hopped right over the barrier with ease.
New York City environmental officials plan to reduce the heavy flow of sewage into Newtown Creek through the construction of a new tunnel that would serve as a major upgrade to the area’s century-old sewer infrastructure.
An inferno tore through a Buddhist temple complex in the Bronx early yesterday morning, killing a monk and a visitor as Big Apple firefighters struggled to access a fire hydrant for the second time in a week.
Outraged Monroe County parents took over a school board meeting this week — demanding to know why their elementary school children were exposed to an “LGBTQIA+” book that included depictions of naked people and bondage enthusiasts.
A Columbia County jury awarded $1.5 million in a wrongful death lawsuit against Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson late Tuesday.
A state prison in western New York remained in lockdown yesterday after inmates took control of three areas of a dormitory for several hours — an episode that took place against the backdrop of an ongoing prison staffing crisis.
Albany may loosen its long-standing requirement that employees live in the city.
The race to win the November election for Saratoga Springs City Council seats, as well as city representatives on the Board of Supervisors, has begun, with candidates announcing their intentions and parties lining up their endorsements.
Stewart’s Shops is selling five of its stores as part of an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission, following the company’s massive acquisition of Jolley Associates in September.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
