Good morning, it’s finally Friday.
If you’re of a certain age, you’re probably familiar with the line “Please accept my resignation. I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.” I have heard it countless times, and probably even used it, too, but I didn’t actually know the full story behind it until today.
The full quote was actually some version of: “Please accept my resignation. I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.” The person who said it – or rather, wrote it – was none other than the comedian Groucho Marx, who used the line to resign from the Friars Club just a few weeks after joining in the wake of his realization that he actually didn’t have all that much in common with its members after all.
Joining clubs is a deeply human trait, linked, I would argue, to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (the pyramid of human motivation, if you’re not familiar, click here). A sense of belonging and community is deeply important to our health as human beings. That said, there are some clubs that one would most likely prefer not to belong to.
Again, it was just today that I learned that the “club” of service members awarded Purple Hearts is a good example of a membership most would probably turn down if they could. The Purple Heart is not, as I mistakenly believed, awarded for bravery, like, say, the Medal of Honor. Rather, a Purple Heart is given to those who are wounded or killed in combat by the enemy. Those who receive this medal generally report that instead of a “prize” it is instead a painful reminder of trauma and the loss of comrades.
The decoration is seen as an entitlement and is entered into your permanent record, and it comes with some benefits, such as exemption from VA co-pays and automatic VA medical priority access.
Whether you can actually refuse a Purple Heart is unclear to me, as I’ve seen mixed answers to this question online. (There is a story about Harry Truman refusing a Purple Heart sent to him by a grieving father of a son who had died in the Korean War, but it was actually the Medal of Honor that he turned down, arguing that he hadn’t actually done anything to deserve it).
The Purple Heart is one of the oldest and most widely-recognized American military medals. Its precursor was the Badge of Military Merit, which was created on this day in 1782 by then-General George Washington, which is why today is National Purple Heart Day.
The exact number of Purple Hearts awarded throughout history is unknown, though the number is estimated to be as high as 1.9 million. Records were either lost or incomplete (from early conflicts in history, in particular), so it’s hard to be precise. However, most – over 1 million – were awarded during WWII. The largest number of Purple Hearts ever awarded to a single person is 10 (!).
The National Purple Hear Hall of Honor is located right here in New York – in new Windsor, to be exact – and bills itself as “the nation’s sole repository dedicated to the preservation and collection of the stories of Purple Heart recipients.”
The process by which Purple Hearts are awarded and the question of who is eligible to receive one is not without controversy. They are not, for example, given to those who suffer from PTSD, which is a long-standing bone of contention in some military veterans’ and mental health treatment circles.
It’s a mixed bag for the weekend weather. Today will be partly cloudy with highs flirting with 90 degrees. Tomorrow, Saturday, will bring more rain showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon, with high temperatures in the mid-80s. Sunday will be sunny and warm, with highs in the high 80s, with the chance of a lingering shower or thunderstorm in the afternoon.
In the headlines…
President Donald Trump said yesterday that a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz has not yet been finalized, though he indicated negotiations with Iran are continuing and an agreement could come in the near future.
To reach a deal with Iran that reopens the economically vital Strait of Hormuz, Trump may need to do something out of character — compromise – but any concession would be tough for the Republican president.
Trump said the US is the “only country that does birthright citizenship, adding: “I thought we were going to win it at the Supreme Court. Unfortunately we had a very bad decision, very unfair decision. Our country suffers because of it. And we’re ending it a different way.”
Trump said that he is once more trying to limit the number of people who are born in the country who can become American citizens, in a sign that even after his first attempt at limiting birthright citizenship was rejected by the Supreme Court, he’s ready to try again.
The president said he was signing two executive actions on immigration, including one limiting the number of people eligible for U.S. citizenship after being born in the US, while another focused on stopping people from coming to the U.S. to give birth.
The Trump administration announced it would move forward with a plan to eliminate hundreds of federal regulations governing Head Start, in what advocates fear is a push to gut an antipoverty program aimed at helping the nation’s most impoverished children.
The vice president has dispensed with the decorum and restraint of his predecessors to directly take on opponents and journalists on social media with sometimes profane and often personal jabs.
The Trump administration will pay the German energy firm RWE $1.22 billion to abandon plans to build wind farms off the coasts of New York, California and Louisiana, the company announced on Thursday.
Kentucky GOP Senator Mitch McConnell said he had been discharged from a rehabilitation facility after a nearly eight-week medical absence, announcing in a statement that he would continue recovering at home as the Senate takes its scheduled August recess.
“On the advice of my doctors, I’ll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period, and I’ll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business,” McConnell said in a statement.
A spokesman for McConnell did not say whether the senator would return to the Senate when the chamber, which is scheduled to begin a five-week break starting Monday, returns to session in September.
The union representing IRS workers asked a federal judge to stop the Trump administration from granting the president extraordinary tax protections, saying the provision was illegal and could put employees in the untenable position of carrying out unlawful orders.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted along party lines to hold Dr. Anthony S. Fauci in contempt of Congress for his refusal to answer questions at a hearing last week, clearing the way for the committee to ask the Justice Department to prosecute him.
Fauci, the former White House COVID-19 czar who became the face of the US response to the pandemic, has been subpoenaed by three state attorneys general who are investigating whether he promulgated health guidance for “personal profit.”
New Yorkers pay the third-highest residential electricity prices in the country — trailing only Hawaii and California, a shocking new report from the Empire Center for Public Policy reveals.
One of the unintended consequences—or benefits, depending on who you ask—of the pied-à-terre tax is it’s acting like an unofficial state auditor.
The state will be watching for evidence of potential tax fraud by owners who claim they mostly live elsewhere — thereby avoiding local or state income taxes or higher car insurance premiums — but actually spend most of their time in the city.
Legal experts say the state’s lawsuit against Kalshi reflects an ideological divide as GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman weighs in and court filings accuse New York of “annihilating the industry” of prediction markets.
With the recent rains New York has experienced, environmental advocates are calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign legislation banning PFAS in drinking water while also raising concerns about algal blooms.
Hochul is reminding New York producers that the deadline to apply for the $30 million agricultural resiliency against tariffs program is approaching with applications due by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11.
A 15-year-old teenager on Thursday described how a Capital Region Family Court had “forever destroyed” her childhood at a news conference held by advocates and prosecutors calling for sweeping changes to New York statutes governing those proceedings.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani repeatedly sidestepped questions yesterday about reported plans to launch a campaign this fall to pressure Hochul to increase taxes on wealthy New Yorkers and corporations.
Dozens of suspected bot accounts on X/Twitter are amplifying content from Mamdani and his circle, and reportedly can be traced to New York City Hall IP infrastructure, the World Zionist Organization claims.
Mamdani’s pick for a key housing position faces a rocky road to City Council confirmation, as members — including progressives — are uneasy about how the process has played out and concerned about the nominee’s views on development and homeownership.
Mamdani, a vocal and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America, drew a sharp line yesterday between his views and the party’s platform on the contentious issue of public safety and policing.
All of the City’s progress on childcare misses the mark on one major piece — the piece on which, in the long run, everything else depends: A sustainable funding stream.
More than 6,000 New York City family childcare providers who care for kids in their homes. Their programs are an essential part of Mamdani’s plan to build a universal childcare system, but home-based providers earn a median wage of $6 an hour.
Mamdani has made “solid progress” in encouraging the safe adoption of electric micromobility in the city, but should do more to incentivize car-owning New Yorkers to ditch their four wheels for two, according to a new report from the e-micromobility industry.
Amazon has responded to Mamdani‘s cease-and-desist letters that went out to 40 major retailers over the sale of “prohibited motorized scooters and e-bikes.”
Anonymous sources told the NY Post that Mamdani is “thin-skinned” and hyper-sensitive to public criticism behind closed doors, despite hyping himself online as a smiling and unflappable politician.
Ali Najmi, one of Mamdani’s top advisors who helps select judicial nominees, bragged about his connections to Big Apple politicians in an ad for a Manhattan law firm, raising eyebrows among ethics experts.
Mamdani’s Commission on Government Efficiency has put forward a ballot item purporting to strengthen the city’s rainy day fund — but it’s much less than meets the eye, according to Carol Kellermann, former Citizens Budget Commission president.
More than 50 Harlem residents are suing New York City, its health department and several city contractors, claiming their negligence led to severe illness and death during last summer’s outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in the neighborhood.
Council Member Christopher Marte allegedly directed at least one government staffer to raise money for his campaign and an outside group that supports him politically, according to a whistleblower complaint obtained by POLITICO.
Hot, humid weather and intense thunderstorms will make New York City feel like a Caribbean island through the end of the week — prompting the city to activate its emergency plan.
Across New York City, there’s been a spike in mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus, a disease that can cause severe neurologic illness in rare cases.
The organization behind the annual New York City Marathon, one of the largest races of its kind, announced on Thursday that it would revamp its popular 9+1 program for guaranteed entry into its 2028 competition.
Protesters criticized the decision by Rensselaer County Executive Steven McLaughlin and Sheriff Kyle Bourgault to ignore a new law that will ban police agencies from continuing their formal agreements to assist ICE with civil immigration enforcement.
Two Schenectady men and three teenage boys have been charged in connection with an assault at the Pattersonville Rest Area on the state Thruway that left one employee with significant injuries after he was slashed with a utility knife, according to State Police.
The restoration of the historic American Theater on River Street is expected to be complete by winter, officials announced Thursday during a celebratory ribbon-cutting for the project.
After nearly a decade of anticipation, the Capital Region’s first Costco has arrived. The members-only wholesale store, which has 146 million cardholders worldwide, opened yesterday.
A newly filed complaint with the state attorney general’s office accuses Amsterdam officers of using excessive force against a man they sought to interview about a reported assault.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
