Good morning, it’s Friday.
By the end of this weekend, we’ll be in a brand new month – June is upon us, come Sunday. I mentioned yesterday that June 1 marks the start of the Jewish holiday Shavuot, which is known for being a day on which dairy treats – cheesecake, cheese blintzes, yogurt, etc. – are consumed.
The Jews are known for debating and deliberating, and so it should probably come as no surprise that there are a variety of theories as to why we’re supposed to consume milk products on this holiday.
One suggests that Torah, the presentation to the people by God through Moses of which this holiday celebrates, is like milk under the tongue (as per the Song of Songs).
Another notes that the Hebrew word for milk is “chalav”, the letters of which add up to 40, (remember that each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a corresponding number), which also happens to be the number of days that Moses spent on Mt. Sinai before descending with the Torah.
All this focus on milk is especially ironic, given that some 65 to 80 percent of Ashkenazi Jews are lactose intolerant, due to a genetic mutation that makes it difficult for those who have it to produce a key enzyme necessary to break down lactose in the body.
Interestingly, World Milk Day, established in 2001 by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to recognize the importance of milk as a global food, also lands on June 1. In fact, the entire MONTH of June is set aside to celebrate and recognize the dairy industry.
The dairy industry reportedly supports the livelihood of some 1 billion people around the world, including 600 million who live and work on dairy farms and another 400 million who work in supporting industries like dairy processing and retail. Raising cows plays a particularly important role in rural communities for staving off poverty and hunger.
Now I know that there are people who feel some kind of way about dairy. Some think that consuming milk and milk products is cruel and avoid it for moral reasons, while others are simply physically incapable of metabolizing dairy (see above) and avoid it for health reasons.
The mass raising of cows by big Ag does have a negative impact on the environment. Cow farts, it is well documented, are contributing to the hole in the ozone layer. Cattle grazing also contributes to forest loss, as trees are cut down to make room for pasture, but that’s more of a beef-raising issue than a dairy-raising issue.
Overall, Americans have steadily been decreasing their dairy consumption, mostly due to a reduction in the amount of milk the average person drinks. As a Jew, I was not at all in the habit of drinking my dairy growing up. We ate cheese, and of course, cream cheese on bagels, and we put milk in our cereal, but since you can’t mix milk with meat and keep kosher, we weren’t in the habit of consuming it as a beverage on the regular.
There are a lot of milk alternatives these days – plant milk is a big thing, oat, almond, hazelnut, cashew, hemp, coconut, rice etc. and then, of course, there’s also soy milk, which has been around for centuries. Some argue that these alternatives should not, technically, be able to call themselves “milk”, but the FDA disagrees.
I have no strong feelings either way, when it comes to milk, you do you. The moo-re the merrier, as fas as I’m concerned.
I wish I had better tidings to report regarding the weather, but sadly, I do not.
Today will probably be the best of the lot, with mostly cloudy skies but no rain in the forecast and temperatures reaching into the mid-70s. Tomorrow will bring a full day of rain and highs only in the low 60s. Sunday will be dry and mostly cloudy, but also on the cooler side, with temperatures struggling to get into the low 60s.
In the headlines…
A head-spinning series of court rulings over President Donald Trump’s signature tariffs left Washington, Wall Street and much of the world trying to discern the future of U.S. trade policy yesterday.
A federal appeals court granted the Trump administration’s request to temporarily pause a lower-court ruling that struck down most of the president’s tariffs.
The Trump administration had earlier told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that it would seek “emergency relief” from the U.S. Supreme Court as soon as today if the tariff ruling was not quickly put on pause.
Trump leveled unusually pointed criticism of a prominent conservative legal activist and organization yesterday as he railed against the original ruling that struck down his sweeping tariffs.
The president, in a post on his social media platform, slammed Leonard Leo, the former chair of the Federalist Society, calling him a “sleazebag” who “probably hates America.”
Trump, it would seem, is not one for a “TACO.” The taco in question is not a dish made with tortillas, but rather a reference to how markets are responding to his tariff policies.
The TACO trade, short for Trump Always Chickens Out, is a tongue-in-cheek term coined by the Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong.
Trump will hold a press conference today at the White House alongside Elon Musk, who is departing his role as a special government employee.
“This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way. Elon is terrific! See you tomorrow at the White House,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
The White House and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are looking into a reported attempt at impersonating White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
People familiar with the message said that an unknown individual sent text messages and made phone calls to multiple notable Republicans and business executives while pretending to be President Trump’s chief of staff in recent weeks.
The Senate Armed Services Committee’s top Democrat is blasting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his decision this week to appoint a new director of the Pentagon’s operational test enterprise and rapidly cut its staff by more than half.
Hegseth said his directed reorganization reducing the staff, budget and resources at the Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E), supports the Defense Department’s “America First” strategy, according to a Tuesday memo.
Several Immigration and Customs Enforcement leaders are leaving their roles, the agency announced yesterday, in the third major change among its leadership in recent months.
Harvard won a temporary victory in a legal battle with the Trump administration over whether it can enroll international students, after a federal judge said that the university could continue to do so for now.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey broke ground on the Dyer Avenue deck-overs, marking the first stage in construction of the new Midtown Bus Terminal.
Hochul called the existing station a “hellhole,” adding: “After decades of nonstop use this terminal is showing its age.”
A natural gas company is attempting to revive two previously-abandoned pipelines in New York, days after the White House reportedly claimed Hochul “caved” and had agreed to allow the developments to move forward.
The new facility will replace the decrepit 74-year-old terminal on 42nd Street, which struggles to accommodate its 200,000 daily riders, much less the type of modern buses that require electric charging stations.
Hochul says she’s looking forward to working with the next mayor of New York City – whoever that may be.
Online sports betting has exploded into a multibillion-dollar industry in New York since it was legalized in 2022. State lawmakers are scrambling to keep up.
New York consumers purchasing tickets to live shows and concerts could see a suite of new protections prompted by persistent complaints about price gouging on live ticketing platforms and resale sites.
New York teachers are demanding that children receive 30 minutes of unstructured play time during the elementary school day, a proposal that would have been laughable two decades ago.
A NYPD detective assigned to Mayor Eric Adams’ security detail will be questioned in relation to a bizarre crypto currency kidnapping and torture plot after he allegedly delivered the victim to his tormentors.
NYPD brass learned the detective assigned to protect Adams had provided security at the Prince Street townhouse in Nolita where crypto businessmen John Woeltz and William Duplessie allegedly tortured and held captive an Italian tourist for 17 days.
At least one NYPD officer has been placed on modified duty as part of an internal investigation into the kidnapping and torture of a man in SoHo, the department confirmed.
The two major candidates for New York City comptroller eagerly take aim at Trump on the campaign trail — but only one of them has called on the city’s Trump-friendly mayor to resign.
The two leading Democrats in the race for city comptroller clashed last night over who would be a tougher watchdog for New York’s finances and a stronger check on both the next mayor and President Donald Trump.
Democratic mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani blasted Adams for his willingness to collaborate Trump’s immigration crackdown following ICE agents arresting a couple of dozen people at Manhattan courts – an operation City Hall says it was not involved with.
Mamdani’s pie in the sky plan to pay for $10 billion in proposed freebies by hiking corporate taxes will trigger a mass exodus of New Yorkers to other states, experts warned.
Nearly a year after two Brooklyn teens drowned in the waves off Jacob Riis Park, Adams named a new swim class in their honor.
Back-of-the-pack New York City mayoral candidates Jessica Ramos and Michael Blake won’t participate in the second Democratic primary debate next month as they haven’t met the fundraising thresholds to qualify for it.
A former terrorism prosecutor has been picked for the No. 2 post at the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, where he will occupy a role that is expected to be especially influential because the head of the office has no prosecutorial experience.
DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez didn’t recognize April as Arab American Heritage Month with an agency-wide email as in years past, rankling staffers who asked for the message to voice solidarity with Muslim employees impacted by the war in Gaza.
Conservative author and influencer Ashley St. Clair appeared in a Manhattan courtroom yesterday in her ongoing paternity and custody battle over Elon Musk’s secret infant son.
The owners of the stalled Atlantic Yards megaproject surrounding the Barclays Center in Brooklyn reached a deal in 2014: Build hundreds of affordable apartments by May 31, 2025, or face millions in monthly penalties. Neither has occurred.
One of the largest projects designed to protect Manhattan from a catastrophic flood has reached a new milestone with the opening of revamped parkland along the East River on the Lower East Side.
A former NYPD traffic safety officer and the owner of a call center that targeted accident victims both pleaded guilty this week in a bribery scheme that federal officials said exploited people involved in car crashes, according to prosecutors.
Sean “Diddy” Combs was accused of sexually assaulting his former assistant at Manhattan federal court and subjecting her to brutal working conditions as the feds beef up their case against the disgraced rap mogul.
Ex-NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who was known as “America’s Cop” and led the city’s police department through the 9/11 terror attacks, died at the age of 69 after he was hospitalized with cardiac disease.
The New York Police Department confirmed his death on social media. FBI Director Kash Patel said his death came “after a private battle with illness.”
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani reflected on his long history with his former police commissioner, saying “We’ve been together since the beginning. He’s like my brother.”
Kerik, an Army veteran, was hailed as a hero after the 9/11 attack and eventually nominated to head the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, before a dramatic fall from grace that ended with him behind bars.
Faizan Zaki, last year’s runner-up at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, came back from a late-stage flub in the competition to easily spell “éclaircissement” and take home the winning prize of $50,000.
U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer is opposing efforts by Alain Kaloyeros and other defendants in the infamous Buffalo Billion bid-rigging case to avoid being retried on wire fraud charges after their convictions were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Albany Police Chief Brendan Cox says it is unlikely criminal charges will be filed against the driver of a car that drove onto a Krumkill Road sidewalk last year and killed 50-year-old Jason Steinberg.
The amount of money raised by and for the four candidates running to succeed Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan has topped $1 million.
A new seven-story public housing building’s 141 apartments are fully occupied, according to City of Troy officials, and is standing in the place of two long-vacant high-rise towers at the John P. Taylor Apartments complex on River Street.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
