Good morning, it’s Tuesday.
Over the five-plus decades that I have been on the planet, I have spent a considerable amount of time collecting things. Interestingly, this is an innately human characteristic, driven perhaps, according to some psychologists, by the thrill of the hunt; a desire for order, purpose, and identity; the search for social connection or some combination thereof.
I have, at one time or another, collected the following: Stickers, erasers, vintage clothes, salt and pepper shakers, Danish modern furniture, stoneware, art, plants, and dogs (if you consider three canines a collection). My predilection for collecting dates back to when I was very young, and I think started with my collection of stuffed animals – specifically, teddy bears.
I had a favorite bear named something like Huggie, I think. (No, it’s not terribly creative; I was a kid, OK?) It wasn’t anything particularly special, but I carried it around everywhere and loved it so much that I wore out its paws. My mom used pieces of my baby blanket to patch them up.
I’m not sure how or why, but when we moved to Japan for a year when I was seven, Huggie got left behind in a box of toys we stored in the crawl space that was located behind the upstairs closet in my childhood home. When we returned, we were dismayed to find that the box had somehow gotten wet and all the toys were moldy.
That was the ignominious end of Huggie.
There were other bears – I was for a while very interested in Stieffs, which are known for their high-quality and the distinctive yellow tag in their ear. The Stieff company, located in Germany, is credited with manufacturing some of the very first teddy bears, along with – although independent of – a U.S. couple named Morris and Rose Michtom.
The Michtoms were immigrants (he was Russian-born, she was from Romania) who lived in Brooklyn. He was the founder of something called the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company. By day, they sold candy at their store at 404 Tompkins Ave. in Bed-Stuy, and by night they made stuffed animals.
As the legend goes, Morris Michtom spotted a famous cartoon that depicted then-President Teddy Roosevelt refusing to shoot a defenseless bear, and was inspired to make a stuffed animal commemorating the event. The cartoon, entitled “Drawing the Line in Mississippi,” was created in 1902 by Pulitzer-prize winning cartoonist Clifford Berryman (sorta sounds like BEARyman, no?), for The Washington Post.
The president, who was well known for his hunting and outdoors prowess, reportedly refused to shoot the tied-up bear that the guides had tracked down to make up for the fact that he had been unable to nab one on his own after three days of hunting.
Roosevelt, however, deemed it “unsportsmanlike” to shoot a worn down and captured animal. (Sadly, the bear later had to be put down anyway due to its injuries). The Teddy Bear was a big hit, and Berryman went on to use it in his work, often drawing it as a sidekick – or foil – to the president.
According to Michtom’s son, Benjamin, his father sought and received Roosevelt’s permission to make the “Teddy’s Bear,” which went on to surprise everyone – including the president himself – by becoming a massive overnight bestseller. The Teddy Bear is so iconic – reportedly the most popular plush toy in history – that it was inducted into the Strong National Museum of Play (located in Rochester, in case you are in need of a road trip), in 1998.
Today is National Teddy Bear Day, which doesn’t make all that much sense to me, since the Berryman cartoon was published on Nov. 16, 1902. But who am I to quibble?
A beautiful day is on tap, with bright, sunny skies and temperatures topping out in the mid-70s.
In the headlines…
The Trump administration is escalating its immigration operations in Democratic cities in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling giving the government the ability to conduct immigration stops based on an individual’s ethnicity or whether they speak Spanish.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced “Operation Patriot 2.0” in Massachusetts followed by “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago roughly an hour after the Supreme Court decision came down.
“DHS is launching Operation Midway Blitz in honor of Katie Abraham who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run car wreck caused by criminal illegal alien Julio Cucul-Bol in Illinois,” DHS wrote on the social platform X.
President Donald Trump suggested that offenses that “take place in the home” should not count against his record of crime reduction in Washington, saying his opponents are using reports of “a little fight with the wife” to undermine his crackdown.
The Supreme Court yesterday lifted a federal judge’s order prohibiting government agents from making indiscriminate immigration-related stops in the Los Angeles area that challengers called “blatant racial profiling.”
The court’s brief order was unsigned and gave no reasons. It is not the last word in the case, which is pending before a federal appeals court and may again reach the justices.
A dinner attended by dozens of administration officials and advisers to Trump was marred by a clash between two top economic officials, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatening to punch top housing finance official Bill Pulte “in the fucking face.”
A federal appeals court upheld an $83.3 million jury award against Trump for defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll in 2019, after she accused him of a decades-old rape in a Manhattan department store, for which he was separately found liable for sexual abuse.
The House Oversight Committee has released another tranche of files related to Jeffrey Epstein last night, which includes a message from former President Bill Clinton in the late pedophile’s infamous “birthday book.”
Congressional Democrats released a copy of a sexually suggestive letter ostensibly written by Trump to Jeffrey Epstein to mark the pedophile’s 50th birthday, a missive Trump claimed he never wrote when it was first revealed by the Wall Street Journal.
The letter, included in a batch of documents handed over by Epstein’s estate, has Trump’s name and handwritten signature, though the White House says it’s a fake. The typed text is framed by a hand-drawn outline of a curvy woman – exactly as the WSJ described.
The Israeli military ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate today, signaling that it was moving ahead with its full-scale invasion of the largest city in northern Gaza.
The announcement came as indirect cease-fire talks between Hamas and Israel remain stalled, with the two sides staking out contradictory positions on how to end the war.
As well as evacuation orders being posted online, Reuters news agency has captured video footage showing hundreds of leaflets floating in the skies above Gaza City.
The reading skills of American high school seniors are the worst they have been in three decades, according to new federal testing data, a worrying sign for teenagers as they face an uncertain job market and information landscape challenged by A.I.
The results from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) showed that about a third of the 12th graders tested in 2024 did not have basic reading skills, while almost half did not have basic math skills.
When New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is trailed by Frankie Focus, the state’s new, neon-green, shaggy-haired phone ban mascot, the person inside the costume may be pocketing $300, minus agent fees.
The MTA’s discount ticket for commuter rail riders who stay within the five boroughs has now saved straphangers more than $100 million, Hochul said.
New York is claiming authority to oversee private-sector union elections and disputes whenever the National Labor Relations Board fails to do so, under legislation that Hochul has signed into law.
New York’s highest court is weighing a state law that moves most local and county elections to even-numbered years, aligning them with state and national elections.
Hochul announced nearly $28 million in awards to fund multiple energy efficiency and electrification projects in New York City.
New York State’s labor board will have wider powers to intervene in labor disputes thanks to a new bill signed into law by Hochul this past weekend.
New York taxpayers are on pace to pump almost a billion dollars into lavish subsidies for television and film productions this year to keep them in town.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said that her office will intervene in a lawsuit brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that seeks to compel a New York court to enforce Texas’ abortion ban against a Hudson Valley doctor.
The move is an escalation in a legal battle regarding a case that legal experts anticipate will be seen before the Supreme Court to determine if health care providers mailing abortion medication to states with abortion bans need to abide by their state laws.
Former federal prosecutor and independent mayoral candidate Jim Walden last week announced he was dropping out of New York City’s mayoral race. There’s just one problem: His name will still appear on voters’ ballots in November’s general election.
Slowly and carefully, Zohran Mamdani has been seeking to make inroads with the New York City police, a constituency that views him with deep skepticism and even hostility.
Mayor Eric Adams has abandoned his effort to appear on two ballot lines — “EndAntiSemitism” and “Safe & Affordable”— in November’s mayoral election, opting to run only on the latter.
A Manhattan judge has struck down an effort by Adams’ administration to let ICE operate on Rikers, ruling the action was ethically “impermissible” because it came after Trump’s DOJ securing a highly controversial dismissal of the mayor’s corruption indictment.
The searing ruling from State Supreme Court Justice Mary V. Rosado came as part of a broader legal war between the City Council and Adams over Executive Order 50 to reestablish a federal immigration presence at the troubled jail complex.
Big Apple mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani has raked in nearly $200,000 from donors on Long Island since his Democratic Party primary win – but still trails his rivals’ overall local haul, filings show.
Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa has launched his first TV ad of the campaign, showcasing his wife, Nancy, who talks about protecting women from violent crime.
Sliwa revealed that he hasn’t spoken to Trump in more than a decade — as insiders note the pair’s longstanding rift could imperil any push for the cat lover to drop his mayoral bid.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch made it clear that she’s “revolted” by the idea of the National Guard patrolling the streets of New York City.
Tisch blamed criminal justice reforms passed by ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo for a pandemic-era spike in crime — while ripping the idea of President Trump sending the National Guard to the Big Apple.
Some of New York’s largest landlords will convene this morning for an urgent gathering to support Cuomo, saying the “time to act is now.”
In a NY Post op-ed, Cuomo wrote: “As families across the city return to school, we must confront the failures of our education system and reimagine schools worthy of the children they serve.”
Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, has been speaking with officers to address concerns over his past criticism of the Police Department.
Mamdani pushed back on critics this past weekend, arguing they are attacking a “mythical” version of him by resurfacing old tweets.
Cindy Adams: “Our five boroughs don’t all love Cuomo personally. However, just as we’ve got lifesavers at the shore, we now need a lifesaver on the cement.”
The New York City mayoral candidates trailing frontrunner Mamdani still believe they can beat him as they speak out and take aim at each other.
NYC public schools are getting brand-new laptops with the help of T-Mobile, Adams announced alongside Yankees stud Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Most of the city’s buses that ferry more than a million daily riders earn D and F ratings when it comes to reliability and speed — with pedestrians even out-walking some of them, a dismal new report shows.
A young arts patron who was accused of donating $10 million to the Metropolitan Opera that did not belong to him died by suicide in May, the city’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is being blasted as “radical” by a fellow New York House Democrat, Long Islander Tom Suozzi, but the socialist firebrand appears to be embracing the onslaught — even launching a fundraiser off of it.
Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was branded a “f–king moron” during a tense street confrontation with a passerby in New York City — a clash that quickly spiraled into a profanity-laced shouting match captured on video.
Louie & Ernie’s, a beloved Boogie Down mainstay, was named the best “hole-in-the-wall” restaurant in New York by the outlet — beating out scores of worthy contenders.
Kevin A. Luibrand, a well-known Capital Region attorney, has asked a federal judge to let him remain as counsel to the man accused of setting a fire that killed a Schenectady father and three of his children in 2013.
An Albany County woman who alleges she was sexually abused as a child by her brother-in-law, who is a businessman from Guilderland, was awarded $270,000 in damages by a jury recently under New York’s landmark Child Victims Act.
The National Weather Service issued the Capital Region’s first frost advisory as temperatures were expected to drop to around freezing beginning on Monday night.
Local uniformed police, firefighters and others participated in a benefit memorial stair climb this past weekend at the Empire State Plaza to remember first responders who died responding to terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
The parents charged with killing their 3-year-old daughter in a squalid Corinth apartment last February have been jailed for allegedly violating orders of protection related to the case.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
