Good morning, it’s Friday. I don’t know about you, but the four-day, short week thing did not resonate at all for me. Post-summer re-entry was hard, full stop.
This feeling was probably influenced by a work trip to Buffalo, which is a really lovely city when it’s not freezing cold and covered with several feet of snow, but nevertheless remains very, very far away.
I associate a lot of things with fall – all the usual things, like changing leaves, cooling temperatures, Halloween, Election Day, pumpkin spice and apple cider doughnuts. I’m sure there are a lot of other things that other people associate with the season, but I’m willing to bet that nonprofit giving isn’t high on the list.
Most charitable giving – as much of 30 percent of what is contributed annually, by some accounts – occurs in December.
This is in part due to the whole “spirit of giving” thing that comes with the holidays, but a more cynical and less, well, charitable, take on this phenomenon is that people with means are rushing to get those tax deductions in before the year ends. (Case in point: 10 percent of all annual giving takes place in the last three days of the year).
Despite all this, today is the International Day of Charity, which, according to the UN website “was established with the objective of sensitizing and mobilizing people, NGOs, and stakeholders all around the world to to help others through volunteer and philanthropic activities.”
This day was chosen to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Mother Theresa of Calcutta, who died in 1997 at the age of 87 after suffering from ill health for a number of years. It was created in 2012 following a proposal by Hungary, which initially conceived of the day as an initiative supported by the Hungarian Parliament and Government in 201, and co-sponsored by 44 UN member states.
In case you’re not familiar – or perhaps need a refresher – Mother Theresa was a world-famous nun and missionary who was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in 1910. She went to India in 1928 to devote herself to serving the poor, sick, orphaned, and homeless, founding the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkota (Calcutta) in 1950.
Mother Theresa, who once said “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love,” was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 “for her work in bringing help to suffering humanity.” The prize committee noted that poverty and distress present a significant threat to peace, as destitute and desperate people are far more likely to go to extremes to survive.
The first International Day of Charity was observed at the UN headquarters in Manhattan on Sept. 5, 2013.
In case you need a reason to give of your time or resources today – or any day, for that matter – consider this: Some 700 million people around the globe live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $2.15 a day. Efforts to reduce poverty have stalled due in large part to the Covid crisis, according to the World Bank.
In 2023, the poverty rate in the United States was somewhere between 11 and almost 13 percent, depending on which standard of measurement you use. That’s at least 36.8 million people, with poverty rates higher among communities of color.
Without delving too deeply into politics, which is something I try not to do in this space too often, I’m going to step out on a limb here and suggest those numbers are going to get a heck of a lot worse, thanks to Medicaid cuts and the deepening affordability crisis. What would Mother Theresa have to say about that, I wonder? Probably nothing good.
If you need some inspiration, I’ll leave you with another quote from Saint Teresa of Calcutta, who was canonized by Pope Francis in September 2016 (today is also her feast day): “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” This is reminiscent of a saying in the Talmud: “Whoever saves a single life is considered by scripture to have saved the whole world.”
Small acts add up.
Today is going to be another lovely day, weather-wise, with intervals of clouds and sun and temperatures breaking into the low 80s. There might be a stray shower around, so keep those umbrellas close at hand.
The weekend is looking to be more of a mixed bag, with isolated thunderstorms in the forecast for tomorrow morning that will likely become more prevalent as the day progresses. Sunday will bring a mix of sun and clouds – but no rain in the forecast so far. Both days will see temperatures top out in the low 70s.
In the headlines…
President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order today to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War, his latest effort to project an image of toughness for America’s military.
The president can’t formally change the name without legislation, which his administration would request from Congress. In the meantime, Trump will authorize the Pentagon to use “secondary titles” so the department can go by its original name.
Implementing the order will require modifications to public-facing websites and office signage at the Pentagon, including renaming the public affairs briefing room the “Pentagon War Annex,” according to a White House official.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the Trump administration wants to help partner governments conduct violent strikes against criminal groups, following the playbook the U.S. military used to carry out a lethal attack on a boat in the Caribbean.
Trump last night hosted top tech executives in a one-of-a-kind White House event, during which he asked attendees to say how much their companies were investing in U.S. manufacturing.
This first lady does not come to Washington easily or often, but felt compelled to return to speak about the possibilities and dangers of artificial intelligence and the collective duty of our species.
The Justice Department has opened a fraud investigation into a Federal Reserve governor, Lisa Cook, elevating claims Trump has promoted in trying to oust her, according to people familiar with the situation.
An immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades can remain open and the government can resume sending detainees there, after a federal appeals court ruled yesterday against a lower court’s decision effectively shutting down the facility.
Trump will attend the men’s U.S. Open tennis final on Sunday in New York, a White House official said.
Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, slammed Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as “the biggest threat to the health of the American people.”
At a contentious Senate hearing, Kennedy defended his time as the U.S.’s top health official during the hearing, swinging back at lawmakers who pushed him over the recent upheaval at the CDC, based in Warnock’s home state, and changes to vaccine policy.
During around three hours of testimony, Kennedy repeated vaccine misinformation, went after the CDC and gave differing explanations on his vision for reshaping the agency.
Kennedy was remarkably combative and dismissive with senators, refusing to budge from his stance on vaccines, autism, Medicaid and the CDC.
Joe Biden recently underwent surgery to remove skin cancer lesions, a spokesperson said yesterday, the latest health challenge for the former president.
Gov. Kathy Hochul will sign an executive order to allow COVID shots at pharmacies without doctors’ prescriptions.
The Democratic governor is taking the action “so families who want protection can get it quickly, safely and close to home,” according to spokesperson Kara Cumoletti.
The planned order comes as a number of Democratic-controlled states, including California, Oregon and Washington State, are exploring a range of efforts to promote vaccines and issue recommendations, independent of federal policy.
He’s about six feet tall with unblinking blue eyes, orange eyebrows, thick-rimmed glasses and neon-green hair that covers his body, from his fleshy elf ears to his oversized feet. He’s Frankie Focus – Hochul’s new mascot promoting the school cellphone ban.
Frankie Focus will be making stops across the state in the coming days to promote the new rules, according to the governor’s office. He accompanied Hochul through a Brooklyn school as she handed out locking Yondr pouches to students to store their phones.
New York’s attorney general moved to have the state’s highest court reinstate Trump’s staggering civil fraud penalty, appealing a lower-court decision that slashed the potential half-billion-dollar fine to $0.
A new coalition of business and civic groups in New York is backing a congressional bill that would add new pressure for the state Legislature to repeal a 140-year-old law that’s pitted construction workers against their employers for decades.
Billy Jones, the North Country’s lone Democrat in the state Legislature, is scheduled to step down today, setting up what is expected to be a highly competitive race for the Assembly seat that he’s held since 2017.
Immigration officers forced their way into a confectionery plant near Syracuse yesterday morning and detained dozens of workers, in what appeared to be one of the biggest workplace raids in New York since Trump’s deportation crackdown began.
Trump said that he thinks Zohran Mamdani is likely to become New York City’s next mayor unless two of the three major candidates running against him drop out of the race. But the president didn’t say which two candidates he’d like to see quit.
Trump referred to Mamdani as a communist when asked about the race during a dinner with tech leaders.
Trump told billionaire businessman John Catsimatidis that he wants long-shot mayoral hopefuls to bow out of the crowded field — by next week — in an attempt to stave off a socialist-run City Hall.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he doesn’t want Trump to intervene in his campaign and that he has no stake in whether Mayor Eric Adams drops out of the mayoral race to take a job in the Trump administration.
Cuomo challenged Mamdani to five different debates across all five New York City boroughs during a press conference yesterday, and Mamdani, in turn, said he would prefer to debate “Donald Trump himself” instead of “Donald Trump’s puppet”.
While Cuomo says he hasn’t talked to Trump about intervening in the race, he is hoping Adams and Republican Curtis Sliwa drop out.
Sliwa won’t bow to growing pressure — including from the White House — to drop out of New York City’s mayoral race and has been encouraged by the massive mound of cash — more than $3 million, according to CFB records — he has raised since June.
Adams publicly said he’s not going anywhere. But in private, he has told a small group of friends and advisers that he is seriously considering job opportunities that could prompt him to suspend his re-election campaign.
The city Board of Elections on Sept. 11 will certify the lineup of candidates whose names and parties will appear on voters’ ballots in November. If Adams drops out before then, his name will be removed.
Carl Heastie, the speaker of the Assembly, has not yet endorsed Mamdani. He’s not the only prominent Democrat to hold back support.
State Sen. Liz Krueger, a powerful Upper East Side Democrat, revealed her decision to endorse Mamdani to be the next mayor of New York City, even though her constituents backed Cuomo in the Democratic primary.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested that the top congressional Democrats – and anyone else in the party refusing to support Mamdani – are setting a troubling precedent.
“If an individual doesn’t want to support the party’s nominee now, it complicates their ability to ask voters to support any nominee later, whether that is mayoral, presidential, what have you,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Mamdani’s campaign says it has hit the $8 million spending cap, a sign of the Democrat’s support especially among small-dollar donors in New York City.
In the month and a half after Mamdani’s victory in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, he received an outpouring of small contributions from individual donors, while Cuomo’s fundraising lagged.
Adams appeared on the steps of City Hall for an event billed by his campaign as a rally where Muslim leaders would endorse him for reelection. But several said they thought it was a nonpolitical occasion to commemorate the 1,500th birthday of Muhammad.
The first day of classes for 900,000 New York City students today means a statewide ban on cell phones in schools is officially in effect.
Adams has started to push a new idea to limit how many liquor stores can operate in certain neighborhoods. The goal is to reduce alcohol-related harm.
A push gaining steam among members of the elections board would prevent voters in November from weighing in on three ballot measures that would curtail the Council’s power over new development.
A fifth woman is suing the city Department of Education for turning a blind eye to years of alleged sexual abuse and harassment by Queens high school principal William Bassell.
A Brooklyn man who died in NYPD custody at the Kings County courthouse was visibly ill and had asked to go to the hospital hours earlier but never made it, according to his lawyer, sister and law enforcement officials.
A transformation of Brooklyn’s traffic-clogged Flatbush Avenue could begin as soon as the end of the month, city transportation officials said, presenting new details on the plan to deliver “train-like” service to bus riders.
A teen suspect was taken into custody for the stray bullet slaying of a 69-year-old East Harlem woman using a walker, cops said.
Just in time for the first day of school, Newburgh schools brought back its suspended leader, Superintendent Jackielyn Manning Campbell.
The Schenectady City Council will soon vote on whether to name Adonis Richards, a Union College employee who describes himself as a storyteller and writer, the city’s inaugural poet laureate.
The bankruptcy of the College of Saint Rose could put money — millions of dollars in some cases — into the bank accounts of other New York colleges and universities.
Two outages impacting more than 4,500 customers were reported in Schenectady and Rotterdam yesterday, according to National Grid.
The Koch family has agreed to buy a 10 percent stake in the New York Giants, a league source confirmed to The Athletic. NFL owners must approve the deal, and it’s unclear when that might take place.
Giorgio Armani, a designer who rewrote the rules of fashion not once but twice in his lifetime, died at his home in Milan at the age of 91. His death was announced by his company, the Armani Group, which said he had been working “until his final days.”
Photo credit: George Fazio.
