New York Post - 19 May 2024

• • • • SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2024 / Mostly cloudy, 75°/Weather: Page 28 SUNDAY nypost.com • • • • $2.00 LATE CITY FINAL H H SEE SPORTSNYC Law / Facebook N Y U L aw S c h o o l ’ s commencement Thursday in Madison Square Garden was marred by hateful chants and Pa les t in ian f lag-wav ing protesters, but there was one shining light during the chaos— little Eden Rose Neiger. She bravely walked on stage with her graduating mom and raised a picture of a heart she drew while sitting in the crowd amid the despicable din. The crowd gave her a standing ovation, and moved one attendee to observe, “It was beautiful — children don’t know about hatred. That picture is sort of the answer to all of this hate.” PAGES 6-7 Do-or-die for Knicks at Garden today S Amid NYU anti-Israel protesters, 6-yr.-old teaches lesson in love and respect ALL HEART ALL HEART

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 2

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com3 Helayne Seidman By MATTHEW SEDACCA and JON LEVINE It’s the gouda, the bad and the ugly. A Manhattan law school student was so hooked on cheese she had to go to rehab to end her insatiable appetite for dairy, she told The Post. Adela Cojab, 27, said her Camembert cravings began during her junior year at New York University, in spring 2018, when she binged almost daily on the “cheapest” bricks of white cheddar and Parmesan she could find. “I stopped by either Morton Williams or by Whole Foods and I would just buy cheese, and I would literally just eat a block of cheese with my hands,” often while sitting on the floor of her Midtown apartment alone in the dark, said Cojab, “It was the only thing that would make me feel somewhat whole.” The feta fiend said she devoured an estimated 5.5 blocks of cheese per week, along with Parmesan crisps she stocked in her pantry. Her pitiful attempts at a salad, she said, amounted to “eating Parmesan with Caesar, with lettuce on the side.” “I kept telling myself it was actually cheaper to just buy some blocks of cheese” than to get a $12 salad from Fresh & Co., Cojab said. “I was telling myself I was making an economic decision, as people with addictions rationalize.” Dr. Neal Barnard, author of “The Cheese Trap” and adjunct professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine, said people become addicted to cheese due to the high concentration of fat and salt in the food, along with a protein known as casein that can “get people mildly hooked.” “Cheese contains opiate chemicals that attach to the very same brain receptors that fentanyl or any other narcotic attaches to,” he said, adding that due to the high concentration of casein in cheese, “some people refer to cheese as ‘dairy crack.’ ” Feta safe than sorry Cojab said her addiction stemmed from stress. She was the president of a Zionist student group called Realize Israel, at odds with other student activists and professors calling on the university to sever ties with Israel. Her weight skyrocketed to 172 pounds. She also stopped menstruating for five months and became at risk for Type 2 diabetes. “My mom said, ‘You’re not well, you’re not OK . . . you need to go away for a while,’ ” she said. She attended a two-week wellness retreat at Hilton Head Health in South Carolina, which costs at minimum $5,820 a week. Counselors taught her how to order and prepare healthy meals, count calories and consider healthier snacks, like blueberries or popcorn, in lieu of havarti. Her weight has since dropped to 123 pounds, in part aided by Ozempic prescribed to deal with her diabetes risk, she said. Still, Cojab, who settled an antisemitism lawsuit against NYU in 2019 and is set to graduate from the Cardozo School of Law in June, hasn’t sworn off cheese completely. These days, she reaches for a “lighter” mozzarella over a dense Vermont cheddar: “I dabble, but not in the way that I used to before.” Dairy queen: In 2018, cheese addict Adela Cojab would eat blocks of cheddar as a meal. She ultimately went to rehab for an eating disorder, which helped her lose weight (below) and snack healthier. Cheese block fiend’s tale of brie-hab before after Paul McCartney is the first British musician to become a billionaire, with an estimated net worth of $1.27 billion. The milestone landed the legendary 81-year-old former Beatles singer and songwriter on The Sunday Time’s Rich List, which was released on Friday. It also makes him the only member of the Fab Four to reach a billion. McCartney joined John Lennon’s The Quarrymen in 1957 at just 15 years old. The group evolved into The Beatles, picking up George Harrison and then Ringo Starr, and played together from 1960 to 1970. Sir Paul, who was knighted by by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997, shares the wealth with his wife Nancy Shevell, 64, daughter of the late US trucking tycoon Mike Shevell. The pair, married in 2011, landed at 165th on the Rich List. Along with the valuable Beatlemania-inducing back catalogue, McCartney’s successful 2022-23 Got Back tour also gave him a financial boost, according to the British newspaper. The top spot went to Gopi Hinduja and his family, who own the Hinduja group. They are worth more than $46 billion. Deirdre Bardolf, Wires Paul $1B ticket to ride “If” is atop the box office. The live-action animated fantasy comedy was No. 1 this Friday, its first day in theaters, raking in $10.3 million, according to The Numbers. Disney’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” came in second, with $6.8 million in sales. Third was “The Strangers: Chapter 1” with a $5.1 million take. “Fall Guy” was in the fourth spot, with close to $2.3 million in earnings. The Amy Winehouse biopic “Back to Black,” which also debuted on Friday, came in fifth with $1.25 million in sales. Angela Barbuti ‘If’ it’s a box-topper

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Postmaster: Send address changes to The New York Post, 1211 Ave. of the Americas, NY, NY 10036-8790. Vol. 223, No. 186. Copyright © 2024, NYP Holdings Inc. (USPS-383200). Published daily by NYP Holdings Inc., 1211 Ave. of the Americas, New York, NY 10036-8790. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional offices. The Post uses recycled paper. LOTTERY The state is poised to spring a cop-killer from prison — the 42nd in the past seven years — as the officer’s family fights to keep the career criminal behind bars, The Post has learned. Police Officer James Whittington was off duty in Brownsville, Brooklyn, on Oct. 30, 1982, when he encountered felon Mitchell Martin, who was armed and fighting with a woman. Whittington chased after Martin, before Martin shot him at close range. Martin has been in prison since August 1983. The parole board is set to consider the 66-year-old’s release from Elmira in June. The police officer’s daughter, Nicole Demby, plans to implore the release-happy parole board to keep Martin behind bars as she has done every two years. “You know, my father’s life sentence began 42 years ago,” the 48-year-old mother said. “He’s in Green-Wood Cemetery and that’s his place. My mother’s life sentence began at that time too. She’s 83 and she never remarried. “We’re forever in our life sentence.” Tina Moore Kin fight cop-killer’s release The Big Apple has $2.2 billion more than what Mayor Adams forecasted would be available through the next fiscal year, according to a new study. The projected surplus — outlined in a report by the city’s Independent Budget Office — gives the City Council much-needed ammo as it attempts to recover cuts to libraries and other services while negotiating a budget deal with the Adams administration. The IBO report estimates the city’s surplus is $5.1 billion for the fiscal year ending June 30, or $1.1 billion more than the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget predicts. The nonpartisan, publiclyfunded office also predicts an extra $1.1 billion for the city next fiscal year. Rich Calder City’s cash stash: $2.2B dent Patrick Hendry. “From the daily protest details to additional patrols in the subway, our members are beyond exhausted already — and summertime crime spikes are just around the corner. Squeezing cops for even more overtime hours is not a solution. It will just send even more of them running for the exits.” Rising pressures The NYPD has responded to 2,400 protests since Oct. 7, and handles an average of 12 protests a day. Cops are often held over past the end of their shift to deal with the demonstrations. The union has proposed a flexible schedule — currently being tested in select precincts — that would have cops work longer hours on fewer days. One police officer, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, told The Post he retired in January after 20 years because he had had enough of the long hours, anti-cop rhetoric and bail reform laws that prevented him from doing a job he once loved. “When I first got on the job there was a certain level of respect for the police officer. In regards to no-bail, these guys know they can punch a cop and be let out the next day. There’s no consequences. So, a lot of cops are like, ‘What the hell are we doing?’ ” said John, a 42-year-old assigned to The Bronx. Retiring was “like somebody lifted an elephant and took it off [my shoulders],” he said. Two of the canceled NYPD academy classes are back on, Mayor Adams announced last month, which will boost the dwindling ranks by 1,200. But the PBA contends the new hires will “barely keep the headcount flat.” The Adams administration called off five classes to train new recruits as part of multiple rounds of budget cuts to offset the cost of the migrant crisis, which has the city on the hook for nearly $10 billion through next year. Police turning backs on NYC in droves Getty Images Year Headcount 2024 33,695 2023 33,541 2022 34,825 2021 34,858 2020 35,910 2019 36,461 2018 36,643 2017 36,254 2016 35,990 2015 34,618 2014 34,440 2013 34,804 2012 34,510 2011 33,777 2010 34,636 2009 35,641 2008 35,405 2007 35,548 2006 35,773 2005 35,489 2004 35,442 2003 36,120 2002 36,790 2001 38,630 2000 40,285 1999 39,035 1998 38,144 1997 38,201 1996 36,728 1995 36,429 1994 38,571 1993 35,235 1992 34,825 1991 34,447 1990 32,451 By DEAN BALSAMINI The number of NYPD cops on the job this year and last is the lowest it’s been in more than three decades — with about 200 cops leaving each month, according to data obtained by The Post. The current NYPD headcount is 33,695, just 154 more than last year — and the lowest since 32,451 in 1990, stats from the department and city Independent Budget Office show. The problem is getting worse as retirements this year have surged 11%. A total of 566 police officers have hung up their holsters through April, compared with 508 over the first four months of last year, NYPD pension data show. A total of 823 NYPD cops have left the department so far this year. Of those, 257 cops quit before they reached the 20 years required to receive their full pensions. On Thursday, 27 cops resigned. “Most” are going to the higher-paying Nassau Police Department, law-enforcement sources said. The NYPD’s largest police union warned something has got to give. “New York City police officers’ workload has exploded over the past several months, and the staffing is still nowhere close to keeping up,” said Police Benevolent Association Presi-

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com5 By DEIRDRE BARDOLF This will burst your bubble. Bubbles, balloons, tables and chairs and even tug-of-war are offlimits for celebrations held in Central Park, and the no-fun edict is baffling parents — who are speaking out about the mysterious rules that must be followed for gatherings of more than 20. “We received a permit for our son’s 4th birthday party in Central Park but didn’t realize how many restrictions there were,” one desperate mom lamented in a Facebook group on May 7. Setup including tables and chairs, balloons, bubbles and “active sports” including kickball, spikeball and tug-of-war are among the restrictions, she said. She sought suggestions for alternative activities and creative ways to serve cake without a table. Use a cooler as a table, one parent recommended. “Upside down milk crates and a picnic blanket,” offered another. “Why no bubbles? It’s soap and water?” one commenter asked. “Those are ridiculous,” another person said of the rules. “Change locations.” Others suggested it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission. “I wouldn’t stress, we have been having park birthdays for years with tables and balloons and bubbles and nothing has ever been said,” one mom chimed in. Many were shocked by the rules, which they said were contrary to what they’ve seen in the past — yet the Parks Department insisted they aren’t new. Reps for the agency confirmed a long-standing rule against balloons, which it said are “very destructive” and pose a litter problem. They provided no specifics on the bubbles and games ban. Prior approval required Permits are necessary for gatherings of 20 or more people, cost a non-refundable $25, and are issued on a case-by-case basis. In Manhattan, tables and chairs require prior approval and, if approved, are limited to a maximum of two, according to the Parks website, and tents are generally not allowed except under “very limited circumstances.” Signs and banners also can’t be hung up on trees or fences. Parks officers were unaware of the rules and said they weren’t told to enforce them. Sources thought they could be coming from the Central Park Conservancy, which handles maintenance and restoration of the grounds, but the group said Parks sets and enforces all of the rules. Additional reporting by Rich ­Calder and Helayne Seidman Forbidden: Two women blow bubbles as they walk through Central Park — a prohibited act if they had gotten a permit for a party or gathering. “Active sports” including tug-of-war (below) and kickball are also off-limits. No tables, sports, even bubbles with Central Pk. permit NY Post: Chad Rachman The teen shooter who fatally gunned down a 16- year-old “peacemaker” in Soho rode to the killing in a Citi Bike basket and was identified in part by his distinctive Air Jordans, according to court documents. Henry Thomas, 19, was held without bail after being arraigned on a seconddegree murder charge Saturday in Manhattan Criminal Court in the May 7 murder of Makhi Brown, who was killed half a block from the charter school he attended, officials said. The gunman was captured on camera wearing “distinctive black Air Jordans with red and yellow trim” and getting into the Citi Bike basket before the shooting, according to the criminal complaint against him. When the bike arrived in Urban Plaza between Spring and Dominick streets, about a block from Brown’s school, the shooter “stepped out of the basket and fired a handgun three times,” authorities said in the complaint. Brown was shot once in the back of the head and twice in the leg. He was trying to be a “peacemaker” between two fighting groups, NYPD officials have said. Investigators who identified Thomas and went to his Upper East side home found the sneakers he was seen wearing in the video, officials said. Thomas was arrested there Friday by the US Marshals Service and the NYPD. Georgett Roberts and Tina Moore Teen ‘slayer’ tracked down in shoedunit An audacious French teacher who was fired by the Department of Education amid sexually charged accusations is finally gone from the charter school where she has been working, The Post has learned. Just hours after The Post published a front-page story May 12 about Dulaina Almonte (inset), 33, being fired for texting a student 28,000 times at Truman HS in The Bronx — and then landing a teaching gig at the privately run AECI 2 — her name was removed from the charter school’s website. An administration employee answering the phone at the school Friday said, “She’s no longer working with us.” Principal Santiago Taveras, Assistant Principal Christopher Mastrocola and CEO Derick Spaulding refused to come to the phone or respond to multiple messages seeking comment. Two weeks ago, Spaulding suggested he was unaware of Almonte’s shady background because nothing came up when she was fingerprinted. “All employees have to get fingerprinted. If there was something in a person’s background that was worthy” of not hiring them, “that would show up” there, he said, claiming, “That’s the state’s way of stating this person’s allowed to work” with children. Almonte herself is mum, although two weeks ago she was far more talkative when reached by The Post. “I can’t be guilty if I’m still a teacher,” she boasted. “Still a teacher working elsewhere. Like, you really can’t f--king touch me.” Almonte hung up on a reporter asking for a comment this week, but someone called back on her behalf and claimed The Post’s story was “based on false information.” Lauren Elkies Schram and Chris Harris Taunting kid-text teacher re-axed

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 6 israel under attack By Matthew Sedacca A growing fissure in Israeli leadership over the lack of concrete plans for governing Gaza after the war with Hamas concludes now threatens the Jewish state’s governing coalition. On Saturday, Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz warned that he would resign if no plan for postwar governance in the embattled Palestinian territory is approved by June 8. “Lately, something has gone wrong,” Gantz said. “Essential decisions were not made. Essential leadership decisions to ensure victory were not done. A small minority has taken over the command bridge of the Israeli ship of state and is steering her toward the rocks,” he continued, referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s farright and ultra-Orthodox allies. The statement came as tens of thousands rallied in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities, calling for new elections and release of the hostages. In his ultimatum, the centrist Gantz demanded the government adopt a six-point plan that includes ending Hamas’ rule, securing the return of hostages, demilitarizing Gaza and creating a joint international administration to handle the territory’s civilian affairs that is not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. ‘A defeat for Israel’ The lawmaker’s threat came just days after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, another member of the war cabinet, also tore into the prime minister for failing to rule out Israel’s involvement in governing the Palestinian enclave postwar and offering no alternatives. But Netanyahu brushed aside the dispute, issuing a statement sayng the conditions Gantz described would mean “the end of the war and a defeat for Israel,” while “leaving Hamas intact.” He accused Gantz of “threatening to bring down the emergency government in the middle of the operation” to clear Hamas from Rafah. As Netanyahu has hesitated to offer a postwar plan, his allies have called for Israel to keep control of the territory when the fighting stops. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Gantz was pushing to “stop the war and form a Palestinian state with American pressure” and called on Netanyahu to “make a strategic decision of full Israeli control over Gaza and a decision that from here on out our forces will not be stopped.” The disagreements came as Israel and Hamas fighters clashed in northern Gaza Saturday. Israel said dozens of terrorists were killed and wounded amid the fighting in Jabalia. help is on the way: Israeli troops conduct operations in the Gaza Strip (left), as the US completes its floating pier (above) to funnel humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territories. Post-war question roils Israeli Army/AFP via Getty Images By DOREE LEWAK A 6-year-old child taught thousands of adults a lesson in love and respect this week. NYU School of Law’s commencement Thursday in Madison Square Garden was marred by hateful chants and Palestinian-flag-waving protesters who refused to leave the stage, but there was one shining light during the chaotic ceremony: little Eden Rose Neiger. She bravely walked on stage with her graduating mom and raised a picture of a heart she drew while sitting in the crowd amid the despicable din. The daughter of Devorah Neiger, flanked on stage by her two siblings, then handed the heart — drawn in the school color, purple — to law school Dean Troy McKenzie. “The mood and energy completely changed — she got the biggest applause of the whole ceremony,” said proud dad Edward Neiger. “There was tension in the room — you didn’t know what was going to happen next,” added the dad, whose family is Jewish and pro-Israel. “While some students disrupted the ceremony with symbols of hate, Eden drew a purple heart as a symbol of love.” The 10:30 a.m. ceremony included keynote speaker, exTwitter exec Vijaya Gadde — who reportedly played a key role in censoring The Post’s Hunter Biden story before the 2020 election — and was plagued by disruptions as soon as grads from the 900-student class filed into the 5,570-capacity Theater at MSG. Some hoisted signs such as “NYU funds genocide.” Others chanted “Disclose, divest — we will not stop, we will not rest” and “Over 40,000 dead, NYU, your hands are red.” Others refused to shake hands with the dean. The antics were a continuation of the controversy that has dogged the university since Oct. 7, when the president of the school’s student bar association said that Israel “bears full responsibility” for the savage Hamas attack. She was booted from the post in November. McKenzie pleaded with one defiant student holding an oversized Palestinian flag to leave the stage, saying: “You made your point.” ‘Resounding applause’ With that backdrop, Edward Neiger whisked his kids, Eden, 6, Alexandra, 3, and son Elisha, 1, to the back of the hall “out of earshot” and busied them with paper and magic markers. He told them to draw, hoping to “distract” them from the “hateful chanting and displays so as not to traumatize them.” That’s when Eden began crafting her message to the dean, who had refused to bow to the anti-Israel bullies. “She got such resounding applause” in a day that was dominated by “darkness,” said mom Devorah, noting that the politically charged acts were “really jarring and shocking.” “You just have to sit there Child shames hateful rabble at NYU event

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com7 israel under attack love wins: Eden Rose Neiger stuns Thursday at NYU School of Law’s graduation by holding up a heart she drew — as anti-Israel protesters broke rules by chanting and waving flags (inset). FaceBook NYU School of Law A recent poll of Jewish college students revealed: Feel less safe because of campus protests 63% Need to hide their Jewish identity 40% Too scared to attend Jewish-related events 32% Source: Hillel International and take it — you don’t want to stoop to that level, even though every part of your body wants to stand up to them,” she said, adding that the gesture was her daughter’s decision alone. “We did not put her up to this,” she said. ‘It was very powerful’ “We were worried going in that the kids would be scared” if protests arose during the ceremony, said the mom, who in 2022 successfully fought to bring her “banned” baby to campus for breastfeeding. A rep from the law school declined to disclose whether there was any disciplinary action or arrest of the rogue grads, who violated MSG’s rules prohibiting signs, banners and flags. “It’s regrettable that at yesterday’s JD graduation, a handful of protesters saw fit to interfere with and delay the progress of the ceremony,” the school said. “They were asked to refrain from their activities, and when they did not, they were escorted from the stage, allowing the ceremony to proceed as planned.” As the Neigers walked off the stage, little Eden told her mom, “That was kind of brave of me.” Judy Kayne, a Westchester teacher in attendance, was in full agreement. “All of a sudden, this little girl gets up on the stage with her mother holding a piece of paper with a big heart,” recalled Kayne, who said it elicited standing ovations. “It was very powerful to me — the innocence of a child is all you want in this world. It was beautiful — children don’t know about hatred. That picture is sort of the answer to all of this hate.” Anti-Israel protesters clashed with NYPD officers at a raucous rally in Brooklyn Saturday, leading to at least a dozen arrests. Video showed the angry mob, some 250 strong, pushing back as police tried to move them toward the sidewalk in Bay Ridge. Cops eventually tackled and arrested several protesters, video shows. Police could be seen dragging demonstrators away as they fought with and yelled at cops. One protester hurled a water bottle. One man was pinned against a van by police and placed in handcuffs as people screamed at police to “let him go!” A line of handcuffed protesters, one draped with a Palestinian flag, were filmed being loaded into the back of a police vehicle. “We love you!” a friend shouted to one from the other side of the police line. The Post observed at least 12 people being busted. Police did not have an official number of arrests immediately available. The neighborhood was blanketed by a massive police presence. “The NYPD has spent over 400 million on Palestine protest alone,” the demonstrators chanted in a call and response. One woman atop a U-Haul screamed: “Don’t talk to the pigs, they don’t deserve our attention,” to loud applause. “Biden is the oldest president we have ever had and he’ll die soon,” she added. Patrick Reilly and Marie Weigl face to face: An anti-Israel protester screams at an NYPD cop at Saturday’s rally. A handful of people were arrested. Hatred rules in B’klyn clash Justin Lane / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 8 israel under attack By DAVID SPECTOR Iranian authorities have sentenced a Jewish man to die — and they plan to carry out the execution as soon as Monday, sources told The Post. The case has sent a shock wave through the tiny Jewish community in the Islamic Republic, and Iranian Jewish expats and others in the Jewish community in New York and Israel are sounding the alarm that it is a clear miscarriage of justice. Arvin Ghahremani, 23, was working out at the gym in the Iranian city of Kermanshah, about 500 miles outside of Tehran, in November 2022 when he was ambushed by seven men, one of whom was a 40-year-old man who owed him money, said Rabbi Danny Yiftach, who translated Iranian court documents for The Post. The purported victim, identified as Amir Shokri by Iran Human Rights, pulled a knife and stabbed Ghahremani, the rabbi claims. The Jewish man fought back and disarmed the attacker, then fatally stabbed him. Ghahremani was convicted of being an “accomplice to the intentional murder of a Muslim” and for “intentionally inflicting nonfatal injuries.” He was sentenced to death, a judgment that is not subject to appeal, according to the documents. An Iranian law would allow Ghahremani to escape execution if the victim’s family agreed to receive financial compensation, but so far the family has refused, Yiftach said. Jews are a tiny minority in the Islamic Republic, numbering 8,000 out of 88.5 million Iranians. They are anxious as time ticks away on GhahreIran set to execute a Jewish citizen ‘Ambushed’ by system mani’s life. “This morning I spent an hour responding to all the WhatsApp messages I’m receiving about this issue,” Yitach said. “This has gotten everybody very nervous in Iran.” Homayoun Sameyah, the Jewish representative in Iran’s parliament, has reportedly asked multiple Muslim lawmakers to mediate with the dead man’s family, even offering to build a mosque in his name. The efforts were unsuccessful. Seeking justice Yiftach said he believes that this case gives the Iranian regime the chance to show “their strength” by overturning an injustice. “I’m confident that if this case would have been in Tehran it wouldn’t have turned out this way because I do believe in the goodwill of the central government,” Yiftach said. “Ever since the revolution Iran has said they’re not against the Jewish people — they’re just anti-Zionist. Now is their chance to prove that.” The rabbi added, “The Talmud tells us even when there is a sword at your neck, don’t give up hope.” The Israeli military announced it recovered the body of a fourth hostage from Gaza, a day after it revealed it had retrieved from Rafah the corpses of three others who were kidnapped by Hamas. Ron Benjamin, 53, was among the roughly 250 people kidnapped by Hamas during its bloody attack on Israel on Oct. 7, IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a press conference, Israeli media reported. Hamas terrorists killed Benjamin that day near Kibbutz Mefalsim, in southern Israel, before taking his corpse into Gaza, Hagari said. Benjamin’s body was retrieved during an overnight operation in the southernmost Gazan city of Rafah, where troops also recovered the bodies of Shani Louk, Amit Bouskila and Itshak Gelernter, Hagari said. Benjamin had set out the morning of Hamas’ harrowing attack for a bike ride with friends near Kibbutz Be’eri, but turned around after hearing sirens, The Times of Israel reported. He was last heard from at 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 7, when he called one of his daughters and left a voicemail that he was going home to Rehovot due to the volley of rockets, the outlet reported. Matthew Sedacca Body of a 4th hostage retrieved ron benjamin Taken by Hamas Oct. 7. New York Rep. Elise Stefanik was to address members of Israel’s Knesset in Jerusalem Hall on Sunday morning — and was poised to slam President Biden for his “dithering” on American military aid. The speech was part of a trip to visit sites where Hamas terrorists slaughtered Israeli civilians on Oct. 7 for Stefanik, who chairs the House Republican Conference. In remarks released to The Post, the lawmaker described herself as “a lifelong admirer, supporter, and friend of Israel and the Jewish people.” She was set to denounce the Biden administration for withholding military aid that Congress authorized. “There is no excuse for an American president to block aid to Israel — aid that was duly passed by the Congress . . . or to dither and hide while our friends fight for their lives,” Stefanik continued. “No excuse. Full stop.” The five-term Republican is the highest-ranking member of the House to visit Israel since the cowardly Hamas attack. Josh Christenson NY Rep. Stefanik to address Knesset COuld die monday: Arvin Ghahremani, 23, is sentenced to death for the fatal stabbing of a man who stabbed him first at a gym in the Jewish enclave of a city about 500 miles from Tehran. Obtained by The Post

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com9 They’re whacking a classic. AMC Networks added a trigger warning to the mob movie “Goodfellas” — rankling those who were in the film and wiseguys alike. “This film includes language and/or cultural stereotypes that are inconsistent with today’s standards of inclusion and tolerance and may offend some viewers,” a message reads at the top of the film when screened on the network. The warning was first affixed during the height of Black Lives Matter when many businesses made avoiding offense to various groups a core part of their missions. “In 2020, we began adding advisories in front of certain films that include racial or cultural references that some viewers might find offensive,” an AMC rep told The Post. But the warning for “Goodfellas” apparently doesn’t apply to other mob flicks. “The Godfather” — which also plays on AMC and features many of the same themes — has a more standard “viewer discretion” warning covering “brief nudity, strong language and intense violence.” “The f--king political correctness has f--king taken everything away,” said Bo Ditel, a former NYPD cop who played a police officer in “Goodfellas.” “This is how life was back then. It was not a clean beautiful thing . . . If you want to tell true history, you gotta tell it the way it is.” Michael Franzese, a onetime captain of the Colombo crime family, said, “We don’t need anyone protecting mob guys. It’s crazy.” Jon Levine ‘Good’ grief on warning, ‘fellas!’ Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs can’t be prosecuted in a caught-onvideo assault on Cassie Ventura because the statute of limitations has expired, the Los Angeles County DA’s office said. In the March 5, 2016, footage obtained by CNN, he apparently grabs his then-girlfriend Ventura by the neck and kicks her repeatedly. “If the conduct depicted occurred in 2016, [it] occurred beyond the timeline,” the office of LA District Attorney George Gascón wrote on Instagram Friday. In California, the statute of limitations for simple and felony assault is one year and three years, respectively. In her November 2023 suit against Combs, Ventura alleged he paid the InterContinental Hotel in Century City $50,000 for the footage, which shows him attacking her near the elevator bank. The suit was settled. Olivia Land Diddy skates in ’16 attack T he moment the Dublin Portal, a live outdoor video feed linking Ireland and NYC, was announced on May 8, you could hear the collective shout of 8 million New Yorkers: “Uh oh!” Because every single person with a pulse knew what the end result of dropping a barely monitored, 24/7 Zoom call into the middle of Manhattan would be — total chaos. And, indeed, it was. Who can forget last week when an OnlyFans model named Ava Louise strutted right up to that doomed screen, flashed her breasts at the Irish oglers and later announced that she “thought the people of Dublin deserved to see two New York, homegrown potatoes”? Now, that’s what I call class. Not to be outdone, another jackass on the Ireland side held up a video clip of the 9/11 attacks. Such valuable cross-cultural connections, these are! All of this bad behavior was rude, obnoxious . . . and as predictable as the sunrise. A good rule of thumb for those planning public art displays in New York City is: If you build it, they will come and deface, defile and vulgarize it. We barbarians of the five boroughs just can’t help ourselves. So, why would we treat Banksy any differently? In 2013, when the controversial British graffiti artist stenciled a little beaver on an East New York wall as part of a monthlong, so-called residency, some vandals almost instantly spraypainted over it “we don’t need more rats!” I endorse that message. But wrong mammal, morons. Another industrious dude tried to steal the extremely valuable drawing using a hammer and chisel. That fracas came just four days after a separate Banksy in Red Hook was vandalized. Even a Lower East Side mural in honor of Flaco, the escaped Central Park Zoo owl who New Yorkers rooted for like the Knicks, was ruined by yellow-green spray paint shortly after it was created this February by artist Calico Arevalo. Yes, even fallen Flaco isn’t safe. Graffiti, by nature, is vulnerable. But what about a fancy metallic work of architecture in a posh new neighborhood packed with police and armed guards? That’s the Vessel in Hudson Yards. Opened in 2019, it is described on its website as an “interactive artwork” and a “soaring new landmark.” I call it a suicide pine cone. By 2021, three people had offed themselves via the 16-story eyesore. Rather than being torn down, though, it is currently closed “while we install floor-to-ceiling steel mesh to the structure.” Tourists will be able to scale the morbid monstrosity again later this year. Self-control? Here? One of the currently shuttered Dublin Portal’s creators told The New York Times he’d hoped the display “would be self-monitored” by friendly, conscientious New Yorkers. Ha! The obscene acts I casually walk by daily in the East Village can’t be printed, let alone prevented. If this city of millions actively “self-monitored,” we’d be the world’s first crime-free utopia. Alas. Take it from the huge freakin’ hot dog statue currently in Times Square: If you want your artwork to remain unscathed here, put a barricade around it and lift it off the ground. Even then, I’d be worried if I were that weiner. tough town: Nothing is sacred in New York: not the Dublin Portal (top), shut off due to shenanigans, and not the Vessel, currently being coated in steel mesh to stop people from jumping off. AP JOHNNY OLEKSINSKI A 5-year-old boy was killed when he ran out into a Queens street and was struck by a vehicle, according to police. The child was hit at around 6:06 p.m. in front of 20-19 124th St. in College Point near the Poppenhusen Playground, cops said. The boy “ran into the roadway” when a 2008 Honda CRV traveling south on 124th Street smashed into him, police said. “I just saw the little kid under the car. He was blue. He was bleeding,” a witness, who gave his name only as Rob, told The Post. He suffered injuries to his head and was taken to Jacobi Medical Center where he died, according to police. The 25-year-old female driver remained at the scene. Rob said the boy was coming from the park and wasn’t with a parent when he ran out into the road. Patrick Reilly, Steven Vago and Larry Celona Boy, 5, struck dead by car

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 10 election 2024 South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott slammed President Biden on Saturday for “pandering” to black voters in his two-day campaign swing through Atlanta and Detroit this weekend, and predicted they will support Republican Donald Trump in “historic” numbers come November. “[Biden] sometimes says, ‘You can’t be black if you don’t vote for me.’ Or he’ll say something as asinine as ‘Republicans want to put you back in chains,’ ” Scott, the only AfricanAmerican GOP senator, told Fox News. “But last time I checked, the only person restraining black economic growth is Joe Biden and Bidenomics,” he said. Mary Kay Linge Black sen. pans Joe ‘pander’ President Biden and his team are shutting the door to additional debates with former President Donald Trump, suggesting the two scheduled contests already agreed to by both sides will be the only matchups of the 2024 presidential election. “The debate about debates is over,” Team Biden told NBC News. “No more games.” The two scheduled contests include a June 27 event hosted by CNN and a Sept. 10 showdown with ABC News. Jon Levine Team Biden: 2 debates only First Lady Jill Biden claimed Saturday the future of public education in America will remain bright if her husband Joe Biden is re-elected president — while Donald Trump would only bring “chaos and division.” “I always believed that Joe would be the best education president,” Biden, 72, told a crowd of 1,200 at the United Federation of Teachers’ yearly spring conference in Manhattan. Trump, on the other hand, “wakes up every morning caring about one person — and one person only — himself,” the Ph.D. educator added, drawing boos at the mention of the ex-president. “Donald Trump doesn’t want to strengthen our public education system — he wants to destroy it,” she continued in a barely camouflaged campaign screed. “If Donald Trump is reelected, we get chaos and division,” she said. “A world in which public schools are privatized and their funding is gutted, teachers unions are marginalized and lesson plans are censored and books are banned.” Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and UFT president Michael Mulgrew also were in attendance. Khristina Narizhnaya and Rich Calder Jill plays teachers’ pet with fiery talk Jill Biden Went hard on Trump. By Mary Kay Linge Donald Trump wooed “rebellious” gun-rights advocates Saturday at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Dallas, pleading with them to go to the polls in November’s election. “With your vote I will stand strong for your rights and liberties,” he told about 8,000 NRA members who packed the main hall of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center to capacity for his keynote address. But he gently scolded them for their lackadaisical voting habits as he sought to re-animate and expand his victorious 2016 coalition. “You’re rebellious people, aren’t you? Gun owners don’t vote,” he noted. “I think you’re a rebellious bunch. . . . But let’s be rebellious and vote this time, OK?” It was Trump’s ninth appearance before an NRA crowd, and his second this year, as he continued to court a powerful lobby that has given him its full-throated support since his first White House run in 2016. His stop in Dallas dovetailed with the launch of Gun Owners for Trump, a coalition organized by the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign to boost voter registration among gun owners, sign them up for absentee ballots, and sell them merch. “President Trump believes that every American has a God-given right to protect themselves and their family and has proven through his actions that he will defend law-abiding gun owners,” according to the group’s website. Trump also took a significant swing at independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose campaign is drawing voters away from both major-party candidates. “RFK Jr. is radical left, he always has been,” Trump declared. “He calls you a terrorist group, and I call you the backbone of America.” Trump has made the defense of gun rights a central pillar of his 2024 campaign. “We need that Second Amendment for safety,” he told the crowd in Dallas. ‘They better endorse me’ In February, Trump promised NRA members in Pennsylvania that he’d “terminate” President Biden’s regulations restricting gun ownership and manufacturing in “my very first week back in office, perhaps my first day.” “During my four years . . . there was great pressure on me having to do with guns,” he said that month during an NRA-sponsored rally at the Great American Outdoor show in Harrisburg. “We did nothing, we didn’t yield.” During the NRA’s 2023 annual meeting in Indianapolis, he jokingly warned that it “better” endorse him for president in 2024 — moments after Mike Pence, Trump’s thenrival for the GOP nomination, was mercilessly booed. “We did a great job and they better endorse me again — or they’re going to have some explaining to do,” Trump said. Meanwhile, the Biden campaign sought to knock Trump’s NRA appearance with a series of social media posts spotlighting some of the former president’s past proSecond Amendment statements. “Gun violence is something Donald Trump thinks we all need to just ‘get over.’ That’s unconscionable,” Vice President Kamala Harris claimed on X. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who addressed the NRA crowd shortly before Trump took the stage, took exception to Harris’ message. “Donald Trump is the antidote to Joe Biden,” Abbott said. nra all the way Reuters on target: Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump speaks Saturday at the annual National Rifle Association meeting.

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com11 Michael Goodwin mgoodwin@nypost.com ‘APRIL is the cruelest month,” poet T. S. Eliot famously declared. Joe Biden might beg to differ. June is shaping up as a potential nightmare for the 81-year-old president. His re-election, his legacy and son Hunter Biden’s freedom are all on the line over the course of a month-long gantlet. And he has only himself to blame. Biden’s surprising demand last week that Donald Trump debate him twice, with the first face-off in June, underscores his desperation to get his campaign back on track. His insistence on a televised showdown in a month already crammed with high-stakes events reveals that Biden knows his bid for a second term is in deep trouble. Trailing in most if not all of the swing states and getting disastrous ratings from voters, he’s ready to put his chips on the table five months before the election. Trump agreed to both debates, with the first scheduled for June 27 and the second for Sept. 10. It’s rare that a president’s schedule drives headlines, but there is nothing ordinary about Biden’s lineup for June. It looks like a formula for disaster. Consider that Hunter Biden is scheduled to face felony gun and tax charges in two separate trials next month. The chance that his son could end up in prison, aides say, is never far from the president’s mind. “Psychological torment” is how a Politico report described what Biden is experiencing. It quoted aides as saying that although the president speaks to Hunter daily, the White House staff tip-toes around the topic out of “fear of an angry rebuke or an icy stare.” In a mood It surely doesn’t help the president’s mood that both cases are being brought by his own Justice Department despite Biden saying publicly that “my son did nothing wrong.” It’s also worth noting that Attorney General Merrick Garland corrupted his office to slow-walk the cases and tried every trick in the book to make them go away. The same officials also oversaw two suspect federal prosecutions of Trump and secretly helped guide unprecedented state prosecutions of the former president in Georgia and New York. So shed no tears for Biden and his family. He abused his power every step of the way and set a new low by weaponizing law enforcement. Hunter Biden’s gun trial, which is set to start June 3, will be held in Delaware. Although the location makes the case something of a Biden home game, the damning facts are not in dispute. The federal trial judge, Maryellen Noreika, said it’s “not a terribly complicated case” when she dismissed the latest defense request for a delay. The first son signed a federal form swearing he was not using drugs when he admitted elsewhere he was addicted to cocaine, making conviction highly likely. Given that his abandoned laptop has pictures of him holding the gun while high on drugs, and messages about how his lover at the time — his dead brother’s widow — threw the weapon in a trash can, an acquittal would be shocking. The tax trial is scheduled for June 20 in California, although a federal judge on Friday scheduled a hearing on Hunter’s bid to delay it. The case involves his alleged failure to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes over several years at a time when he was raking in millions from foreign paymasters, including in China and Ukraine. Although it’s unlikely prosecutors will make any references to the president, there will be no escaping the shadow of the fact that he was “the big guy” slated to get a secret 10 percent cut of some payments. If that weren’t stress enough, the president, who often appears tired, confused and unsteady, is already committed to two European trips in June, one for the 80th anniversary of D-Day in France and another for a G-7 Summit in Italy. He’s also sure to continue making one- and two-day domestic trips to raise money and create photo-ops with selected voters in battleground states. A key focus is on trying to halt the migration of black voters to Trump, which is why he’s scheduled to give a Sunday commencement speech at Morehouse College in Atlanta. All of which makes late June a curious time for a debate, even given that the president is reading the same polls as everybody else and understands Trump is building a commanding lead. It would be, by far, the earliest presidential debate in history, with those sponsored by the official presidential debate commission always held in September and October. That was the plan for this year, but Biden sidelined the commission with his own timetable. Some of his terms, including no studio audience and no third-party candidates, reflect his bid to tailor events in ways that eliminate Trump’s advantages. The former president, for example, does far better with studio audiences, and the leading third-party candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is expected to pull more votes from Biden than Trump. There’s been some media speculation that Biden opted for a June debate so there would be time for the party to replace him at its August convention if he hasn’t turned the tide by then. Much ado That’s a possible scenario, but far from the most likely. Reports that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democratic leaders have been promising big donors that either Biden or VP Kamala Harris would get off the ticket have been swirling for months, but nothing has happened. Making such a change at the convention, especially involving a sitting president, would be the ultimate Hail Mary and only make sense if there were a first-rate replacement available. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been running a shadow campaign, but he’s nobody’s idea of a dream alternative. More likely, the push for a June debate stems from pragmatic thinking rather than dramatic. It allows enough time before the convention for Biden to improve his poll numbers and punch holes in Trump’s momentum. In that sense, the convention matters because it represents the best chance to reset the race for the stretch run, which will be possible if the race is close. So Biden’s job between now and then is to stop Trump’s rise. Because the president’s policies are unpopular, his only option for the debate is to go scorched-earth negative on Trump. Look for him to be stuck on a loop of abortion, Jan. 6, threats to democracy and racism. He’s also trying to use the power of the presidency, with the White House again talking up a plan to restrict border crossings with an executive order. Similar rumblings came and went before, so even if Biden is serious this time, it’s too little, too late to change the grim reality after he’s already let in some 10 million illegal newcomers. Count on Trump to use the debate to remind voters of those numbers. Reuters

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 12 Keep East Village menace A knife-wielding maniac who allegedly smashed an NYPD cruiser’s windshield as a pair of cops sat inside and then punched them as they tried to arrest him in The Bronx last month has been released by a judge, The Post has learned. Patrick Young was holding a large knife when he allegedly ran up to the patrol car around 5 p.m. April 23 in Bedford Park. He dropped the knife and punched the driver’s side window repeatedly, breaking it, law enforcement sources said at the time. When the cops tried to slap cuffs on him, Young pummeled both of them, the sources said. The officers were eventually able to arrest him. Young, 34, was charged with assault, criminal mischief, criminal possession of a weapon and harassment. He was held on $10,000 cash bail and $10,000 bond immediately after his arrest. But when he appeared before Justice Brenda Rivera at a hearing Wednesday, he was released with “non-monetary conditions,” despite prosecutors asking for bail again, records show. Rivera was elected in 2014 to a term that expires at the end of this year. A spokesman for the state’s Unified Court System didn’t return a call seeking comment. “This is a deranged repeat offender who specifically targeted police officers for a vicious assault,” Patrick Hendry said, president of the Police Benevolent Association union. “Anyone who thinks he can be trusted to remain on the street is out of their mind. This . . . shows police officers our justice system doesn’t care about our safety.” Tina Moore and Matthew Sedacca Patrick Young Alleged knife-wielding assailant. Maniac in cop ‘attack’ sprung New Yorkers are jumping at the chance to snag free cans of pepper spray as random assaults continue to climb in the city. Over the past two Thursdays, a community activist handed out nearly 100 cannisters of pepper spray in Chinatown. “Random attacks against women can’t be the new norm,” Chinatown Block Watch founder Karlin Chan, 67, who handed out 94 canisters at Mulberry and Mott streets, told The Post. The takers included a crossing guard, Emily Guaba, 18, a John Jay College student, and worried father Stan Moy, 64, a retired postal worker. “We need to be a little more vigilant,” Moy said. Guaba, who commutes to John Jay from Long Island via train and subway, added, “It [pepper spray] makes me feel safer. You never know what could happen. Especially out here.” Karen Wong, 75, of Chinatown, who took a cannister while strolling along Mott Street, said she’s been harassed and assaulted, but declined to elaborate. Upper East Side resident Evelyn Garcia, who heard about the giveaway and made the trek specifically to get the pepper spray, took five canisters for herself and friends. She said she was accosted May 11 on a subway platform. It’s illegal to ship pepper spray here, but it’s not illegal to own it or use it in certain cases of self-defense. Dean Balsamini NYers ‘face’ crime with free pep spray By Georgett Roberts and Tina Moore Police Bureau Chief The homeless attacker who slugged “Boardwalk Empire” actor Steve Buscemi in the eye was sent to jail in lieu of $50,000 cash bail at his Manhattan arraignment on Saturday, court records show. Clifton Williams has been accused of walking up to Buscemi, 66, on Third Avenue in Kips Bay at 11:39 a.m. May 8 and randomly punching the actor, before casually walking away. Buscemi fell to the ground and suffered “bleeding to his eye, swelling, bruising, and substantial pain,” according to a criminal complaint filed against Williams. Williams, 50, was hit with a felony count of second-degree assault because Buscemi, who is also a former FDNY firefighter, is over 65 years old. Years of violence He was also charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly attacking a 22-year-old Asian man 10 minutes before attacking the “Fargo” star. Williams has a “significant criminal history in both Kentucky and Florida spanning many years including assaults and other crime of violence,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Barry said during the proceeding. He has been in New York for “less than a month,” she added, requesting $100,000 bail. An attorney for Williams pushed for her client to be released without bail. “I don’t think the case is nearly as strong as the People say,” said defense lawyer Molly Kalmus. Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Marisol Martinez Alonso sent Williams — who stands 6-feet, 2-inches tall and weighs 197 pounds — to Rikers Island in lieu of $50,000 cash bail or $150,000 bond, records show. The NYPD identified Williams from surveillance footage near the site of the attack and had been scouring the city for him, including at a Brooklyn homeless shelter believed to be his last known address, law enforcement sources said. When cops confronted Williams with the surveillance photo, he admitted he was the man in the photo and copped to both assaults, according to the criminal complaint. Williams was clad in black jeans, a black long-sleeve sweatshirt and gray high-top shoes, and addressed the judge in a loud and clear voice during his court appearance. Unprovoked: Clifton Williams is escorted by police Friday in Gramercy Park ahead of his arraignment the next day for allegedly attacking Steve Buscemi (inset) and another man. NYPost: Robert Mecea

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com13 By MATTHEW SEDACCA The father of the East Village madman known as “Ice Pick Nick” is grateful his son is behind bars — for his own safety and that of his neighbors, he told The Post. “Being locked up is just saving his life,” Nicholas Babilonia Sr., 66, said days after The Post reported this week on his son’s decades-long reign of terror in the community and his recent longawaited arrest. “Maybe just leave him there till he fixes himself up.” Nicholas Babilonia Jr., 45, was finally sent to Rikers Island last week for allegedly threatening a person on Avenue C on May 10 with a gun and swinging at them with a metal pipe, according to court records. The incident followed a series of attacks on residents in his childhood community, including an alleged stabbing attempt on a sexagenarian dog walker with an ice pick, according to neighbors. On at least two other occasions, Babilonia Jr. allegedly assaulted East Village locals, only to be taken by police to Bellevue Hospital — and released within days, according to the victims. Last June, he was arrested for chasing his sister with a pipe on Avenue C after she tried to give him food, but dodged time in the clink because Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office hit him with misdemeanor menacing charges, which aren’t eligible for bail, said police sources and DA spokesman Doug Cohen. “We try to help, I give him money,” his father said. “If I try to help him, he attacks.” Babilonia Sr. said he tried to raise his son well, including taking him to church “where the good things are.” But his son struggled in school, eventually dropping out, and then ran away after his parents divorced. “I did what I could as a dad,” he added. “I can’t do anything anymore.” The elder Babilonia, who lives in the East Village, tore into the city and state for failing to keep his son and others safe by placing the violent vagrant in a long-term psychiatric program or behind bars — instead allowing him to menace the neighborhood and fuel the lawlessness plaguing the city. “The system has collapsed,” said Babilonia Sr., echoing a Post editorial highlighting how the revolving doors of the mental health and criminal justice systems are putting New Yorkers’ lives at risk. ‘Parents need help’ The frustrated father added that people like his son, who has been arrested 37 times, including for menacing, robbery and drug possession, will continue to terrorize the Big Apple “unless the government does something about the homeless and mentally ill people.” “We have a problem taking care of our society,” he said. Carolyn Gorman, a policy analyst specializing in mental illness at the Manhattan Institute, blamed cases like Babilonia Jr.’s on mental-health policy that works against in-patient treatment for psychiatric issues due to high costs, but also a reluctance toward involuntary treatment even for those in desperate need of help. “You hear the same thing over and over from parents: They cannot get their adult children with serious mental illness help,” Gorman said. She added that the Mayor’s Office has made efforts to expand the city’s ability to involuntarily commit severely ill individuals. In November, Mayor Adams touted that an average of 137 mentally ill New Yorkers were being removed from the streets weekly, many of them through involuntary hospitalization measures. The Adams administration also has thrown its support behind state legislation, introduced last year by Assemblyman Ed Braunstein (D-Queens), that would allow health professionals to extend the hospital stays for mentally ill individuals who have been involuntarily committed. behind bars — it’s ‘saving his life’ knows best: Nicholas Babilonia Jr., a k a “Ice Pick Nick” (top), was arrested 37 times before recently being sent to Rikers Island. His dad, Nicholas Sr. (above), says jailing his troubled son is good for him and the city. Helayne Seidman

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 14 By Lydia Moynihan, Eileen Reslen and Ian Mohr Rudy Giuliani got more than cake and gifts at his 80th birthday bash — he was also served justice. The former mayor was tripping the light fantastic with pals in Palm Springs on Friday night when he was intercepted outside the party at the home of top GOP consultant Caroline Wren by two officials from Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’ office, sources told The Post. The pair served Giuliani with a legal notice of his Arizona indictment for allegedly being involved in a plot to overturn the 2020 election in favor of ex-President Donald Trump. Most of the 200 guests were gone by the time the officials showed up around 11 p.m., but some of the stragglers began screaming, including one woman who cried as Giuliani was handed the papers, the sources said. Giuliani, however, was unfazed, insisted a source close to the ex-mayor. “It actually wasn’t that big of a deal,” the insider said. The party’s guests included former Trump advisers Steve Bannon and Roger Stone. “While crime in Arizona is at an all-time high, the Arizona [AG’s] office felt it was a good use of resources to send multiple agents across the country to storm an 80th birthday party like it was Normandy,” fumed Wren, the consultant and party’s host. Surprise! Giuliani seemed to be enjoying himself at the party — celebrated 11 days before his actual birthday of May 28, even posing for a photo with a bevy of blondes that he posted on X while taunting Mayes. “If Arizona authorities can’t find me by tomorrow morning: 1. They must dismiss the indictment; 2. They must concede they can’t count votes,” wrote Giuliani in the since-deleted post. Giuliani was the last of the 18 defendants to be served in the indictment returned by a grand jury last month. They’re accused of partaking in a failed bid to hand the state’s 11 electoral votes to Trump. Besides Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Georgia are also charging several people with falsely claiming to be electors for Trump. Despite the unexpected guests, the invited attendees “had a really good time,” said a source close to the ex-mayor. The event featured a Frank Sinatra tribute band, with Giuliani at one point leading them in singing “New York, New York.” Giuliani also found time to talk about this year’s presidential race and his desire to get President Biden out of the White House. “Do you want your country back?!” bellowed Giuliani to the crowd in a video obtained by The Post.“Then we got to work like hell from now until Election Day and, who knows? Maybe after, which I learned. But they are not taking this country away from us.” Giuliani spokesman Ted Goodman said the former mayor wasn’t fazed by the decision “to try and embarrass him” on his birthday. “He enjoyed an incredible evening with hundreds of people who love him — from all walks of life — and we look forward to vindication soon,” he said. Giuliani is expected to celebrate his birthday, again May 31 at the Midtown eatery Amata. Additional reporting by Rich Calder Rudy’s Gift ‘rap’ Served indict notice at 80th b’day bash he’s a jolly fellow: Rudy Giuliani snaps a party photo, which he posted to X along with a taunt (right) to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes — who sent two officials to serve him at the event Friday.. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vowed Saturday to continue busing migrants to New York City — and took a shot at Mayor Adams Saturday. “Unless and until Joe Biden does finally begin to enforce immigration laws, I will continue to bus those migrants to sanctuary cities across the United States of America,” Abbott said to loud cheers while delivering remarks at the 2024 National Rifle Association convention in Dallas. “Buncha hypocrites,” Abbott (left) added. A wom­an yelled to send the migrants to New York, to which he responded “Oh, they’re going to New York — trust me.” The gov then took a jab at Hizzoner: “Mayor ­Adams needs something to do.” City Hall did not immediately comment. The Big Apple has been inundated with asylum seekers pouring over the US-Mexico border to be shipped to Democratic-run cities nationwide. The Adams administration filed a $700 million lawsuit against 17 busing companies in January, claiming they’ve hauled more than 33,000 migrants halfway across the country and dumped them in New York City since the spring of 2022. The bus firms have raked in millions of dollars while acting in “bad faith” to assist Abbott’s plan to ship the migrants from the USMexico border places like New York, Chicago and Denver, the Manhattan Supreme Court suit alleges. At least one bus company agreed to stop ferrying migrants to New York. The city also wants the companies to foot the bill for the emergency shelter and service costs moving forward — and cover any future bills that might spring from Abbott’s plan. Patrick Reilly Tex. gov: More migrants to NYC!

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com15 Quiero vivir. LÍDER NACIONAL EN TRASPLANTES Me llamo Onil. ¿Puedes ser mi donante en vida de riñón? Descubre mi historia aquí: IWantToLive.org/es/Onil LÍDER NACIONAL EN TRASPLANTES Me llamo Onil. ¿Puedes ser mi donante en vida de riñón? Descubre mi historia aquí: IWantToLive.org/es/Onil NATIONAL LEADER IN TRANSPLANT My name is Marena. Could you be my living kidney donor? See my story at IWantToLive.org/Marena

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 16 By rich calder The New York City Council’s far-left majority plans to push Albany pols to pass a slew of super-woke measures — including bills that could help free killers when they reach age 55, allow felons to vote in prison and stymie federal immigration enforcement. The leftist Dems recently ironed out a “confidential” wish list of 30 bills before the state Legislature they are lobbying lawmakers to pass and Gov. Hochul to sign into law, according to a copy obtained by The Post. “The City Council is out of touch with the needs of their constituents, disregarding critical public safety concerns,” said a centrist Democratic lawmaker briefed on the list. Council spokesperson Julia Agos said the confidential document was circulated to council members to “gather input.” Here are some of the more radical measures: Elder Parole Bill — sponsored by Assemblywoman Maritza Davila (Brooklyn) and Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (Manhattan) — guarantees automatic parole hearings for prisoners over 55 who’ve served 15 or more years, even if they’re convicted murderers. Fair and Timely Parole Act — sponsored by Assemblyman David Weprin (Queens) and Sen. Julia Salazar (Brooklyn) — prohibits the state parole board from using past criminal records to deny early release. Universal Voting Bill — sponsored by Assemblyman Harvey Epstein (Manhattan) and Salazar — allows felons to vote in prison. Gender Identity Respect and Safety Act — sponsored by Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (Queens) and Salazar — allows inmates to choose a male or female jail based on the gender they identify with instead of their biological sex. New Yorkers for All Act — sponsored by Assemblywoman Karines Reyes (Bronx) and Sen. Andrew Gounardes (Brooklyn) — prohibits state and local governments from enforcing federal immigration laws and aiding immigration authorities. Transparency and Accountability in Charter Schools Bill — sponsored by Assemblyman Michael Benedetto (Bronx) and Hoylman-Sigal — requires New York charter schools to “prove” financial need to qualify for taxpayer assistance and caps pay for top charter school execs below $200,000. AANHPI Community History Bill — sponsored by Assemblywoman Grace Lee (D-Manhattan) and Sen. John Liu (D-Queens) — requires Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history be included in all New York schools’ social studies curriculum. Treatment Not Jail Act — sponsored by Assemblywoman Phara Souffrant Forrest (Brooklyn) and Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Queens) — seeks to lower Rikers Island’s prison population by expanding criteria for convicts to be freed and put in “mental health diversion programs” rather than being off the streets and in jail. rcalder@nypost.com NY Dems’ woke law wish list 30 Albany bills set The city is keeping students’ safety on hold. The Adams administration has yet to publicly launch a school safety hotline promised at the start of the academic year, The Post has learned. City officials previously said the tip line was slated to debut last fall, but no official launch announcement or updates had been made since an October City Council hearing. The Post tested the line earlier this month and it was answered by police officers on the Juvenile Crime Desk. But when The Post then inquired with the city Department of Education and the NYPD why they hadn’t publicly posted the hotline number, it was disconnected. “We’re literally talking about hundreds of preventions, if not thousands of preventions, that haven’t happened simply due to not having a way to report something,” a department source fumed about the safety tool’s delayed launch. The DOE even put together a poster that month highlighting the tip line, according to the source. Jon Levine Matthew ­Sedacca and Susan Edelman Failure to launch: Hotline on hold He’s in an East Hampton state of mind. Billy Joel purchased a pricey pad in East Hampton for a whopping $10.7 million, according to public records. The sprawling 5-acre property on Town Lane in East Hampton is also a horse farm and has a pool and lily pond, according to its listing on Zillow. “It’s down a long gated driveway on an unassuming East Hampton street that shares Alec Baldwin as a neighbor,” said a source. “There has been a lot of activity on the property, fence building, landscaping, lots of vehicles.” Other A-list neighbors include Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert Downey Jr. and Neil Patrick Harris. The five-bedroom abode was purchased in December. Joel married his fourth wife, Alexis Roderick, an accomplished equestrian, in 2015, and the couple has two daughters, Della Rose and Remy Anne. The 75-year-old native of Hicksville, Long Island, also owns a 26-acre waterfront estate on the island with two pools and a helicopter pad in Centre Island, a village in Oyster Bay, which is on the market for $49 million. Joel hasn’t responded to a request for comment. Angela Barbuti liver of dreams: Billy Joel (inset) bought a new home in East Hampton in December for $10.7 million. Hampton Pix

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com17 By CHRIS HARRIS Amish eyes are smiling on the Upper West Side. Millport Dairy, the first truly authentic, Amish-owned brickand-mortar store in the five boroughs, opened May 1 on Broadway between 97th and 98th Streets. The shop is managed by John Stoltzfoos — who remains convivial despite his nightmare of a commute. Stoltzfoos, 58, an impressively bearded Amish man who wears suspenders and a broadbrimmed hat, travels six hours a day every Wednesday through Saturday to get back and forth between Manhattan and his family’s farm in Lititz, Pa. Rising before 3 a.m., Stoltzfoos relies on a hired driver — since the Amish are prohibited from driving cars or operating most modern technology — to get him and a truckload of fresh goods safely to the Big Apple. The store opens at 7 a.m. and closes at 4 p.m. However, Millport Dairy was closed on a recent Thursday, and dismayed customers arrived to find a note taped to the inside of the door: “Gone Fishing.” Stoltzfoos’ face should be familiar to the city’s greenmarket regulars. He’s been selling his family’s farm-to-city-to-table meats, dairy products, baked goods, and much-ballyhooed ethically organic eggs at New York City’s various farmers’ markets for more than 18 years. But in January, Stoltzfoos vanished from the farmers’ market scene, much to the chagrin of his loyal customers. Stoltzfoos said GrowNYC‘s rules and policies had become overly restrictive, limiting the kinds of items he could sell, and so, together with the Lancaster County farm’s owner and his uncle, John King, he started looking for storefronts. “With the farmers markets,” like the one in Union Square, where he was a fixture, “sometimes you’d be setting up your canopy in the pouring rain, and then, there’s unloading your truck and later, loading everything back into it again,” explained Stoltzfoos. “Now, I just open and close the door.” On a recent sunny afternoon, people wandered in and out of the shop, a former dry cleaners. Many — including Diane Wan, 72 — immediately recognized Stoltzfoos, and left with everything from pickled okra, pork roll and asparagus to shoofly pies, pumpkin bread and GMO-free duck and pullet eggs. “I’m so glad you’re here,” proclaimed Wan. “They have the best eggs ever,” stated Harriet Hoffman, 83, who lives nearby. “I would never eat eggs from the supermarket again. The quality is really what I come here for.” The horse-powered Pennsylvania dairy is also known for its butter and cheeses, including Colby, Parmesan and horseradish. “We get the entire family involved, even the children,” Stoltzfoos said, adding what they learn working on the farm “is an education for them.” The ladies on the farm, he said, make the baked goods, including oatmeal bars, ginger cookies and zucchini bread, “with love and care.” amish dish wish long haul: Amish farmer John Stoltzfoos travels six hours a day from Lititz, Pa., to the Upper West Side and back to bring fresh goods to his new store. Helayne Seidman  fi
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New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 18 News World® OF THE The number of adults living with their parents has skyrocketed in some parts of Italy. Those aged 18-34 and still residing at home is now as high as 75% in the southern regions of Campania and Puglia, the latest national economic report. The increases could be due to high unemployment and shrinking wages among younger Italians. The youth unemployment rate is 22%. Bird populations have mysteriously dropped by half at the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve, a 6.6-million-acre area of Amazon Rainforest in eastern Ecuador. Researchers are blaming climate change for the sharp decline since the forest has not undergone any human-induced changes, such as increased hunting. The number of North American raccoons roaming the countryside around Tokyo has grown dramatically and the critters are wreaking costly havoc on farms. Thousands of the masked bandits were brought to Japan in the 1970s from Canada and the US after an anime cartoon series popularized having raccoons as pets. Although Japan ultimately banned the practice, the resident raccoons are prodigious breeders. The Nigerian wedding tradition of flinging money at the bride and groom is under threat. It’s a crime to “abuse” the country’s currency, the naira, but the law was not enforced until recently. Some egregious offenders have been sent to prison for six months and fined (presumably having to pay with their “abused” currency). Archaeologists hoping to map out the extent of a medieval cemetery unearthed two 600-year-old graves, one of which was packed with ancient treasures. At the cemetery, on the outskirts of Lithuania’s capital city, Vilnius, the remains of a middle-aged woman were found with a crown on her head and a trove of jewelry adorning her body, including a necklace of shells and beads, along with bracelets and rings. A bell sat at her feet because during medieval times, bells were believed to be protective items. Angela Barbuti, Wires INVASION Invasion INVASION Ukraine has turned to the United States for help identifying potential targets within Russia, according to a report. Kyiv is also seeking the Biden administration’s blessing to use US-supplied weapons against military installations inside Russia in what would be a clear escalation of the war, The Wall Street Journal reported. It is unclear if the US will grant either request, which US officials said were being reviewed. The requests, if granted, would mark a clear shift in US policy, as the White House has remained hesitant to escalate tensions with the Kremlin amid its support of Ukraine. A White House spokesman said current US policy doesn’t support providing such targeting assistance or using American weapons inside Russia. Ukraine continues targeting military facilities in Russia and Crimea as well as energy infrastructure in occupied areas with kamikaze drones, reported the Kyiv Independent. Russia claimed Saturday it had downed 102 aerial drones and six naval drones, but acknowledged an attack on a power plant near Sevastopol was successful, cutting power in the region. Drone strikes also disabled an oil refinery in Tuapse, Russia, officials said, as Moscow steps up its advance on Kharkiv. Chris Harris Kyiv: Let us use US arms inside Russia By Chris Harris With their munitions supplies rapidly dwindling and wider military conscription looming, Ukrainian soldiers fought desperately Saturday to hold on to territory in the northeastern region of Kharkiv as Russian soldiers continued to close in on the country’s second-largest city. As Ukraine awaits delivery of billions in US weapons and ammunition, its troops are using what ammo they have sparingly, even as Russia steps up its onslaught in the border region. In the recent past, Ukrainian gun commander Oleksandr Kozachenko said his unit’s US-supplied M777 howitzer would fire 100 shells per day at the advancing enemy, but these days, he’s lucky to have 10 shells as his disposal. “It’s a luxury if we can fire 30 shells,” he said. Last month, Congress approved a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine, but the weapons and ammunition are yet to be delivered. Convicts to soldiers As the US tries to expedite the delivery of supplies to the battlefront, new conscription laws went into affect in Ukraine on Saturday, as a way to bolster its forces. The laws will make it easier to identify able-bodied fighters across Ukraine, find citizens dodging service and lower the age for the draft to 25 from 27. They also provide financial incentives for signing up and fighting, including cash bonuses or money for a house or car. Taking a page from Russia’s strategy to bolster its battered forces, the new laws also allow for incarcerated prisoners to sign up. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview he expects Moscow to escalate its offensive in the northeast, and noted the country has only 25% of the air defenses it needs to stave off the Russian onslaught. It also needs “120 to 130” F-16 fighter jets and other aircraft to reach air parity with Russia, he said. Zelensky said Russian troops advanced between 3 to 6 miles along the northeastern border before being stopped by Ukrainian fighters. He expects further incursions into the region. Russia advances “I won’t say it’s a great success [for Russia] but we have to be sober and understand that they are going deeper into our territory,” he said. “The West wants the war to end. Period. As soon as possible. And, for them, this is a fair peace. We are in a nonsense situation where the West is afraid that Russia will lose the war. And it does not want Ukraine to lose it.” charris@nypost,com Getty Images Help wanted: Two men hurry past smoking ruins after a rocket attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Friday. As it runs low on ammunition, Kyiv has lowered the draft age from 27 to 25.

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com19 An Upper West Side Penthouse Debut 205 West 76th Street, PH4C | $6,750,000 Residence PH4C features soaring 11.5-foot high ceilings, 3 bedrooms that can be converted to 4 bedrooms, 3 en suite bathrooms, one powder room, a spacious chef’s kitchen with a wall of windows, and approx. 2,641sf of living space. Web# 22831717 Paul Ramirez Lic. Assoc. R. E. Broker O 212.965.6000 M 917.608.6202 paul.ramirez@elliman.com elliman.com Virtually Staged 575 MADISON AVENUE, NY, NY 10022. 212.891.7000 © 2024 DOUGLAS ELLIMAN REAL ESTATE. ALL MATERIAL PRESENTED HEREIN IS INTENDED FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY. WHILE, THIS INFORMATION IS BELIEVED TO BE CORRECT, IT IS REPRESENTED SUBJECT TO ERRORS, OMISSIONS, CHANGES OR WITHDRAWAL WITHOUT NOTICE. ALL PROPERTY INFORMATION, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO SQUARE FOOTAGE, ROOM COUNT, NUMBER OF BEDROOMS AND THE SCHOOL DISTRICT IN PROPERTY LISTINGS SHOULD BE VERIFIED BY YOUR OWN ATTORNEY, ARCHITECT OR ZONING EXPERT. EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY.

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 20 Retired race car driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. admitted it’s difficult not to put the pedal to the metal while driving these days. “You have to be paying attention to the speedometer when you’re driving around town,” he told PageSix .com’s Nicki Gostin. “Especially at like 35 or 45 miles per hour — that feels so slow after driving race cars all your life, so you can get yourself into a little bit of trouble.” The NASCAR champ, 49, said the smell of gasoline is Proustian. “Burning racing fuel, burning tires — all those smells are some of my favorites,” he explained. Slow pace car Model Lily Aldridge is happy to describe herself as a nerd. “I’m very nerdy and I’m very proud of it,” she told Page Six at the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue red carpet. “I think it’s a wonderful quality. I love gaming and I love reading and fantasy and all those stereotypical things and I think that’s awesome.” The SI cover alum added she’s a big fan of author Sarah J. Maas and laughed when Page Six referred to the writing as fairy smut. Nerd’s the word English actress Fiona Shaw is in awe of her wife, economist Sonali Deraniyagala, who detailed losing her husband, two sons, parents and best friend during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. “I live with a remarkable person,” the “True Detective” alum gushed to PageSix .com’s Nicki Gostin at the premiere of her new film “If.” “She’s not at all neurotic and is completely connected to life and death. It’s a great daily life lesson for me.” Meanwhile, the Shakespearean actress — who played Petunia Dursley in the “Harry Potter” series — laughed when Page Six asked if all English actors were required to act in the J.K. Rowling franchise. “That’s probably true,” she replied. Learning in love Sarah Paulson scored her first Tony nomination this year, for Best Actress in the play “Appropriate” — and she says it’s been a little emotional. “I’ve been crying since it happened — it’s the most extraordinary thing that’s ever happened to me,” she told Page­- Six.com’s Nicki Gostin at the Drama League Awards. The frequent “American Horror Story” player (above) is known for her daring fashion sense, but hasn’t chosen an outfit for the ceremony yet. “They’re being discussed,” she revealed. But don’t expect to see her and longtime girlfriend Holland Taylor in coordinating looks. “No, we do not. We are individuals,” she told us. Though it is her first Tony nod, Paulson did win an Emmy for “American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson.” Fitting feels John F. Kennedy Jr. did not reach out to Prince William and Prince Harry after their mother died, despite his bond with the Princess of Wales. A new biography by Elizabeth Beller alleges JFK Jr.’s wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, urged the political scion to contact Diana’s children after she was killed in a Paris car crash while being chased by paparazzi in 1997. JFK Jr. dealt with the pain of losing a parent when his ­father, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1963. “Carolyn tried to get John to call Princes William and Harry to give his condolences when it came out that Diana had hoped for her sons to emulate John’s modesty in the face of media obsession,” Beller writes in “Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy,” according to a People excerpt. But John-John was hesitant to talk to William, then 15, and Harry, then 12, when they lost their mother because “he didn’t know them and thought that their situations greatly differed.” Still, JFK Jr. was affected by the death of Diana, whom he “had met once or twice.” The author said Bessette-Kennedy’s suggestion for her husband to call Diana’s sons “was lovely,” but he didn’t do it. Dynasties did not connect @Page Six A SUMMER music fest at a Hamptons airport has hit some turbulence. Page Six has learned that Norwegian DJ Kygo’s Palm Tree Music Festival at Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach has had its permit denied by the Federal Aviation Administration. The fest is in its fourth year in the Hamps and is meant to take place June 22, with Swedish House Mafia headlining and acts including Kygo and the duo Sofi Tukker. The press office for the Suffolk County Executive confirmed to Page Six on Friday that the permit has been denied — and that the music fest is now appealing. A source said the issues involve some questions the FAA had about the fest. The insider added: “Most of the questions from the FAA had to do with timelines of runway closures, because it’s an active airport. “They thought it was a two-day festival and it’s only one day,” the source added. “They’re already addressing these questions and have resubmitted . . . This is the permit that they’ve been approved on for the last two years,” the insider insisted, hoping the show will go on. A spokesperson for the fest said simply: “We’re excited to return to the Hamptons for a fourth year!” We’ve previously reported that Hamptons fixture and late tropical rocker Jimmy Buffett made a surprise appearance at the Palm Tree shindig in 2022. Other attendees included Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, Sports Illustrated model Camille Kostek, WeWoreWhat designer Danielle Bernstein, Melissa Wood Tepperberg and Sophia Culpo. Calvin Harris has also played the fest, which has installments in Hawaii and Nevada as well. Tickets to the fest started selling on March 27. Kygo and his manager, Myles Shear, founded the fest in 2021. Airport fest’s permit crashes Splat’s show business! Funny guy Bobby Moynihan was goodnatured at the premiere of his movie “If” when Page Six brought up the fate of the planned reality competition series “Ultimate Slip N’ Slide” — which he was set to host until it was canceled due to an outbreak of “explosive diarrhea” on the set. “Try waking up to that headline on a Monday morning with your face on it and headline saying, ‘Show canceled due to diarrhea.’ It doesn’t get better than that!” Moynihan admitted he wasn’t thrilled but “definitely laughed.” The “Saturday Night Live” alum brought along a childhood pal as his plus-one to the premiere of his new flick, a film about imaginary friends. ‘Slip’ of the dung Ian Mohr imohr@nypost.com Oli Coleman ocoleman@nypost.com Mara Siegler msiegler@nypost.com Carlos Greer cgreer@nypost.com Page Six® Getty Images for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Xandra Pohl and Olivia Dunne turn up the Florida heat at SI’s Swimsuit Issue party at The Guitar Hotel at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com21 “Call Me by Your Name” actor Michael Stuhlbarg told Page Six that he’s “OK” following a random attack by a homeless man last month. “If you’re in New York for as long as I’ve been here, it would be an anomaly for you not to have something strange happen,” he told The Post’s Nicki Gostin. Stuhlbarg — who was struck in the back of the neck with a rock while walking near Central Park — shared, “I hope the city can band together and help those who are not doing well and are out on the streets and find a place for them to get better so that things that happen to me don’t happen to anyone else.” The “Boardwalk Empire” alum added that the incident hasn’t deterred him from enjoying Central Park. He compared it to “getting bucked off a horse. You kind of have to get back on the horse again and get back out there.” Following his recovery, Stuhlbarg is back on Broadway after an absence of nearly 20 years. He’s starring in “Patriots,” which has earned him a Tony nom. Actor’s second nature Alfred Molina never drinks on days when he’s got a performance — which means he’s dry six days a week while he’s in “Uncle Vanya” at the Lincoln Center Theater with Steve Carell. So does that mean he gets wasted on Mondays, Page Six asked. “Wasted on Mondays — that sounds like a great play title,” he noted before adding that “I’m not a big boozer, I used to quite enjoy a drink, but now that I’m getting older . . . two sherries that’s my limit.” When we noted that two sherries sounded like something the Queen Mum imbibed, the “Spider-Man 2” actor defended his choice of tipple. “I love sherry, over ice, after a meal. It’s like a poor man’s limoncello.” Dry run-throughs More celebrity photos at nypost.com Alex Edelman, who is set to pick up a Special Tony award for his one-man show “Just for Us,” let Page Six in on a little secret. “Every single Special Tony winner is hunted by other previous Special Tony winners,” he told us at the Drama League Awards. “So, you have to watch out on the streets to see if they’re coming for you. They get your Special Tony if they’re able to assassinate you.” Edelman added that if he ever spies previous Best Special Theatrical Event winner Billy Crystal on the street, “I immediately cross.” The award recognizes extraordinary contribution to the theater. Special cause & effect She’s all for knot! “Emilia Perez” co-star Zoe Saldana sports a big-bow-tied waist cape complementing her gown at Cannes. Reuters Fetching duo Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons bring star power to the Cannes red carpet for his new flick “Kinds of Kindness.” TheImageDirect.com that Martha Stewart has teamed up with Breads Bakery on a babka called Martha’s Good Thing Babka . . . THAT “Entertainment Tonight” vet Darla Murray and Chantal Shah have launched a matcha tea line called Make Matcha . . . THAT Mark Schonwetter, 90, led his eponymous foundation’s Holocaust Education walk. We hear AGED TO PERFECTION Reimagined by Rees Jones MonsterGolfClub.com Monticello, NY BOOK NOW

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 22 Gimme Shelter JENNIFER GOULD A SPEC mansion in Bay Harbor Islands, Miami, has sold for a staggering $21.95 million, Gimme Shelter has learned — a sum that breaks a local record. The buyers are Patrizia and Matthew Bullock — the latter of whom is the founder and CEO of Shock-Gard and Ty-Gard, restraint systems meant to protect cargo during transit. Their purchase price tops the previous record, set just last month, when Brazilian race car driver Claudio Dahruj paid $18 million for a home there. The Bullocks’ new-construction waterfront home, on West Broadview Drive, comes with eight bedrooms on a third of an acre. At 8,216 square feet, the home features Biscayne Bay views, a chef’s kitchen and a main bedroom with a terrace. The listing broker for this dwelling was Dina Goldentayer of Douglas Elliman. The buyer’s brokers were Ivan Chorney and Mike Martirena of Compass. West Broadview Drive Shock and awe Become Legendary / Dina Goldentayer ARE you feeling royal and flush with cash? A three-bedroom in a landmarked Upper West Side castlestyle building commissioned by John Jacob Astor in 1884 has hit the market for $5.3 million. The seller, Maryam Panahy Ansary, bought it for $5.95 million in 2007. She is the ex-wife of Iranian-born billionaire Hushang Ansary (inset), the 96-year-old former Iranian ambassador to the US. Ansary headed Iran’s national oil company before resigning in 1978, just before the Islamic Revolution. He moved to Texas where he made his own oil fortune. The 4,146-squarefoot home, at 445 Central Park West, is in the former New York Cancer Hospital. The residence boasts a circular living room with large windows, views of Central Park, a woodburning fireplace and 12-foot-high ceilings. There’s also a formal dining room and a triplewindowed, eat-in chef’s kitchen. The main bedroom suite is also rounded and comes with two dressing rooms and a spa-like bath. The listing broker is Bahar Tavakolian of Compass. Castle-mania 445 Central Park West DDReps; Getty Images A colorfuL, eclectic and luxurious Miami Beach dwelling that was assembled and previously owned by art curator Ximena Caminos — the former partner of Argentine hotelier and real estate developer Alan Faena (both below) — has sold for $7.7 million. The home was asking $8.5 million last year, as Gimme Shelter previously reported. Caminos bought the spread in 2016 for $4 million and sold it for $5.7 million last year to a company led by Miguel Bracamontes Baz, the president of a Mexican media conglomerate that owns Diario de México and Diario de México USA. Caminos, a creative force behind the Faena District in Miami Beach, is founder of the nonprofit BlueLab Preservation Society. She is also behind the proposed creation of the ReefLine, a High Line-style underwater sculpture park off of Miami Beach, with a proposed 7-mile snorkel stretch from South Beach to Bal Harbour. The smashing nine-bedroom, 8½-bath residence, at 5454 Pine Tree Drive, comes with a guest house, as well as a courtyard, a custom pool with built-in chaise lounges, a poolside terrace and a pergola. Past and present residents on the street include Floyd Mayweather Jr., DJ Khaled, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lopez, David Beckham and Elon Musk. The Mediterranean Revival-style dwelling is 6,828 square feet; it sits on a double lot parcel that’s just over an acre. Details inside include high ceilings, archways, an eat-in kosher chef’s kitchen and a pantry. Nancy Batchelor, a Compass broker who colisted the property with Liz Hogan, also of Compass, said the “colorful dining room with custom wall murals” is one of her favorite spots in the home. The buyer, Gaga LLC, was repped by Matt Crane of Compass. 5454 Pine Tree Drive X factor 1OAKSTUDIOS (2); Getty Images 50 Bridge Park Drive FORMER coach of the Brooklyn Nets Jacque Vaughn (below) still loves Brooklyn, so much so that he just paid $2.5 million for a two-bedroom, 2½-bath home at Quay Tower on the East River waterfront. The unit was last asking $2.65 million. Vaughn was fired last February after replacing Steve Nash in 2022. The 1,489-square-foot home is on a high floor in a building that’s scoring some of the highest prices in the borough. Zendaya also owns in the building, as Gimme Shelter exclusively reported. Reality TV star Ryan Serhant even moved there with his family when they were renovating their nearby Boerum Hill townhouse. The listing brokers were Brad Mohr and Jamie M. Hannon of Serhant. The buyer’s broker was Jackie Torren of Corcoran. Jacque in the box Quay Tower Getty Images He’s the second wealthiest person on Earth — and now you can be his neighbor in New York City. A 16th-floor residence at 212 Fifth Ave., a neo-Gothic, turn-of-the-century former manufacturing building has listed for $10.25 million. Beyond the perks of a luxe home, that price delivers the privilege of living among some very deep-pocketed building residents, including Amazon titan Jeff Bezos and his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez (both below). Bezos owns the penthouse triplex plus multiple units below for a total investment of $119 million inside. The listed 16th-floor residence is 3,078 square feet with three bedrooms. The sellers bought it for $9.36 million in 2017. It’s currently being rented for $29,000 a month. The listing brokers are Ashley Reidy Quinn and Nick Montalbano of Elegran Forbes Global Properties. 212 Fifth Ave. Evan Joseph Prime the pump Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com23 www.AngleRealEstate.com C 561.629.3015 T 561.659.6551 E cjangle@anglerealestate.com Though information is assumed to be correct, offerings are subject to verification, errors, omissions, prior sale, and withdrawal without notice. All material herein is intended for informational purposes only and has been compiled from sources deemed reliable. Renderings are for marketing purposes only. Outlines for illustration purposes only - please consult a survey. Represented or representing buyers and/or sellers in sales referenced. TRUST | DEDICATION | PERSONAL COMMITMENT CHR I S T IAN ANG L E R E A L E S T A T E - Palm Beach - 710 S. County Road, Palm Beach, Florida Fantastic 1.3+/- acre Estate Section property with fabulous clay tennis court and two separate guest houses. Sunny and bright Quintessential Palm Beach Estate with stunning detailing throughout. Immaculate grounds are gorgeously landscaped. Elegant gated entry with circular drive and ample parking. Gorgeous domed skylight and marble flooring in foyer. Beautiful living room with hardwood flooring, soaring ceilings, and French doors. Stunning lattice detailing surrounds formal dining room. Large first floor Primary Suite with stunning bath. Beautifully remodeled tennis house. Fabulous outdoor spaces include gorgeous loggia, beautiful pergola, fountains, patios, and balconies. Exclusive Offering

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 24 By Isabel vincent B OB Menendez’s wife Nadine Arslanian is no international criminal “mastermind” but “a submissive housewife,” her longtime friends told The Post — after the Democratic senator’s corruption trial began with him throwing her under the bus. Federal agents who conducted a raid of their home in June 2022 found $480,000 in cash stuffed into envelopes and coat pockets as well as 13 gold bars, worth more than $100,000, according to court papers. The couple have vigorously denied the charges. On Wednesday, Menendez’s lawyers blamed Arslanian, saying she “kept him in the dark” on financial matters and stashed gold bars in a locked closet where she kept her clothes at the couple’s Englewood Cliffs, NJ, home. Lawyers for the embattled New Jersey politician, 70, portrayed Arslanian, 57, as “a tall and beautiful global woman” who grew up in Lebanon, speaks four languages and calls Menendez “amour de ma vie,” French for “love of my life” in opening statements Wednesday. Despite her husband’s description, friends told The Post that Arslanian is no international sophisticate. Brought up to obey She is “clingy” with men, and would regularly bring her boyfriends to a “girls’ night out,” said one of her longtime friends. “She is no mastermind,” another said. They also described her as increasingly “isolated” after she cut off communication with even her closest pals, changing her phone number and refusing to see them months before her indictment on corruption and bribery charges along with Menendez and three others in September. Pat Dori said he felt compelled to speak out after he read about Menendez revealing on Thursday that his wife had stage three breast cancer — and Wednesday’s opening statement blaming her for the gold bars. “She’s not the Joan Collins character in ‘Dynasty’ that they’re portraying her to be,” said Dori, referring to the British actor in the 1980s soap opera about dueling oil-rich Texas families. Collins played Alexis Carrington Colby, the devious and conniving wife of an oil tycoon. “She’s not a female Bond villain, but a struggling housewife trying to make it,” he told The Post. “She’s incapable of masterminding anything like this. She was brought up to obey her husband, yes. But she is no mastermind.” Instead, Dori said Arslanian is cornered — without money of her own to pay her lawyers and battling cancer. “She’s in dire financial straits and her friends feel she’s being hit from every possible angle.” Friends told The Post they were shocked when Menendez announced that Arslanian is suffering from breast cancer, and undergoing treatment which will include a mastectomy. Some are fearful she will not survive her own trial which is scheduled to take place in July, after her treatments are complete. Her attorneys did not respond to a request from The Post for comment. “I’m fearful she is not going to be able to survive this,” Dori said. “She is sick and being steamrolled.” But she is unlikely to leave Menendez, friends said, even though the senator does not appear to be staying with her at their modest split-level home — at least not during the first week of his trial. On Friday he emerged from a Manhattan hotel to breakfast on fries and Tabasco sauce. After court, he arrived at his New Jersey home in a blue Honda Civic. “Don’t be such a blood sucker, she has cancer,” he snarled at a Post photographer, before walking around to the side of the home with two plastic bags and a handful of notebooks. Arslanian is “the type who wants to be with her man 24/7, and the type who believes in fairy tales,” a pal who did not want to be identified said. Secret 2012 hook-up “She’s really old fashioned when it comes to marriage. She is also totally naive — the kind of person who never gets a joke.” Friends told The Post that Arslanian, a divorcee with two children, first began dating Menendez in 2012, GOLDEN COUPLE: Bob Menendez has blamed his wife Nadine Arslanian for the gold bars found in their home (left) which prosecutors say were bribes given to them both when he committed corrupt acts. Now her friends are defending her. Getty Images By Rich Calder and Susan Edelman Nearly 23 years after 9/11, a critical flaw that helped terrorists storm the cockpits of four jetliners, kill the pilots and turn the planes into weapons of mass murder is finally being corrected. President Biden signed into law Thursday provisions requiring secondary cockpit barriers on all commercial airplanes — the last of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations yet to be implemented. The lightweight, lockable metal gates — long opposed by airlines because of their $35,000 price tag — protect pilots when they open the cockpit door to use the restroom or receive food. “I guess I wore down Congress enough that they were tired of me,” said Ellen Saracini, widow of Capt. Victor Saracini, a pilot on United Flight 175, which hijackers flew into the World Trade Center’s south tower. “The airlines have had great lobbying efforts against this over the years, and I think they thought the little widow was going home in two weeks, but I decided not to,” she told The Post. “It’s been a lot of work, a lot of years, but my commitment was to never let this happen again,” she added. “Victor didn’t die in vain.” The changes won’t happen overnight, however. It may take three to five years for the airlines to retrofit roughly 8,000 airplanes with the barriers because of the slow federal bureaucracy, sources said. Biden ratified the provisions by signing off on a larger five-year, $105 billion civil aviation bill aimed at improving air travel. It was approved 387-26 by the House of Representatives Wednesday and 88-4 a week earlier by the Senate. “This amendment is a critical step to help prevent 9/11 from ever happening again,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), who along with Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), added the secondary-barrier provision. Former Federal Aviation Administration Special Agent Brian Sullivan said the move is “long overdue.” “No longer will flight attendants be forced to block the cockpit with their little beverage cart — a method that provided about three seconds of additional protection and put the flight attendants at risk,” he said. Cockpit gate law Blocks 9/11-like hijack A New Jersey woman’s gamble in Atlantic City isn’t paying off, leaving the septuagenarian “very anxious” about being unable to help her homeless son. Roney Beal, 72, told The Post Saturday she won more than $2 million on a Wheel of Fortune slot machine at Bally’s Casino in February, but when she tried to collect, the casino claimed the jackpot was caused by a technical glitch and therefore didn’t count. “I just feel it’s not right that they don’t pay out,” Beal said. Beal’s attorney, Mike Di Croce, said he is preparing a legal complaint against Bally’s and its gaming company, International Game Technology, for $1.28 million, which should be $2.56 million because she hit a multiplier. “I’m upset because I want the money, and I will help people with it,” she said. Those people include her homeless son, for whom she wants to buy a trailer. Bally’s Casino had no comment, while neither IGT nor the New Jersey Gambling Commission, which licenses casinos, responded to requests for comment. Lauren Elkies Schram $2M casino ‘welch’

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com25 contradicting official accounts that they first met in 2018. “They dated for a few months in 2012, and then moved on to other people,” said the friend. “Then they hooked back up again in 2018, but they certainly knew each other for a long time.” Arslanian went on to date Douglas Anton, a New Jersey lawyer who once represented disgraced musician R. Kelly. Anton said he called local police when Arslanian went missing in 2018 while she was on a secret romantic getaway with Menendez in the Dominican Republic. “I did a missing persons report, and they had to come to the house to check to make sure that someone didn’t kill her and put her in a closet,” Anton told The Post last month. Police found the lights on as well as televisions blaring in the living room and a bedroom, according to NorthJersey.com, citing records obtained from the Englewood Cliffs Police Department. Arslanian was “found” several days later when she boarded a flight back to the US, Anton said. Friends encouraged her to marry the senator once they started dating again, largely because they felt she needed financial security and health insurance after she suffered a head injury. Ruined reputation “She was going through excruciating pain and we saw Bob as her light,” said Dori. “We encouraged her to marry Bob,” said the other friend. “After she met him, she put him on a pedestal. Everything was always Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob.” He proposed in front of the Taj Mahal during a Congressional trip to India. Menendez wooed her in other ways by appealing to her Armenian heritage and lobbying the Senate to recognize the 1915 Armenian genocide, a measure that passed in 2019. The issue was of paramount importance to her family, especially her father, now 94. Arslanian told the “Armenian Report” podcast that 13 “immediate members” of her family were killed in the genocide conducted by the Ottoman Empire. Menendez choked up during the announcement. “Truth, perseverance and a commitment to a cause greater than yourself, in honor of your family, and all who suffered, I hope your father was watching,” he texted his then-fiancée that afternoon with “Never Forget” in Armenian script. The couple wed in October 2020 at an Armenian church in Queens. Many of Arslanian’s closest friends did not attend because of COVID protocols, said another friend. “We were so happy for her.” But after Menendez’s lawyers blamed Arslanian for the alleged bribery, friends are not so sure that she made the right decision by marrying him or that she will stay with him after their respective trials are over. “Sadly, this trial has ruined her reputation,” said Dori. “I think right now she’s having difficulty seeing light at the end of the tunnel.” MONUMENT TO LOVE: In October 2019, the Democrat proposed in front of the Taj Mahal. He sang “The Greatest Showman’s” “Never Enough.” Friends had urged Arslanian to marry him for security and health care. L’AMOUR:The couple were guests at a White House state dinner for France’s Prez. Macron in Oct. 2022. INDICTED: Prosecutors charged the couple with corruption in October 2023 and unveiled photos of them living the high life as “evidence.” BITING HIS TONGUE: Menendez returned to his New Jersey home Friday evening after spending the day in federal court, and glared at a Post photographer. Robert&Nadine/YouTube Reuters US District Court NY Post: J Winslow REAL JERSEY HOUSEWIFE: Friends tell The Post Arslanaian is “submissive” and “brought up to obey,” ridiculing the idea that she would mastermind a corruption scheme. KEY TEXT: Arslanian lost family in the Armenian genocide. When the Senate recognized the atrocity, Menendez texted her “never forget” in Armenian.

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 26 By TINA MOORE Police Bureau Chief An NYPD detective killed during a cigar store hold-up a century ago will finally receive the recognition he deserves Monday when a headstone inscribed with his name and acknowledging his service is placed on the unmarked grave where he was buried. Bill Markowski, a retired NYPD lieutenant, was studying his fiancee’s family history on an online ancestry research site when he found that her great-great uncle, Bernardino Grottano, better known as Barney, was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. “He was like ‘Oh my God! This is your great uncle!’” recalled fiancee Phyllis Kropacek. Markowski didn’t know anything else about the man, but said he quickly became intrigued when he “found out he was a police officer and he was killed in the line of duty.” He learned that Grottano was off duty in downtown Brooklyn the night of May 19, 1924, when a robber ran past him with a uniformed cop in pursuit after ripping off a shop at Flatbush Avenue and Fulton Street with an accomplice. Grottano joined the patrolman in the chase and the suspect opened fire on the officers, prompting them to return fire. Grottano was struck in the chest and fell to the ground. The patrolman was struck in the arm but survived. “The 26-year-old perpetrator was also felled during the volley and died at the scene,” according to the Detectives Endowment Association website. “He had a long rap sheet that included grand larceny and drugs.” Grottano died a week later at Brooklyn Hospital. Grottano, who lived in Bensonhurst, left behind a wife and two children. He was once attached to what was then called the Italian Squad in Manhattan, investigating the Mafia. Grottano was buried in Lot No. 26518 Section 143, a private lot with six graves containing the remains of about 30 people. Markowski reached out to the Detectives Endowment Association and the union offered to help pay for a headstone. know your roots: Retired NYPD Lt. Bill Markowski researched his fiancée’s family and learned of her deceased greatuncle, who had been buried in an unmarked grave in Brooklyn. Slain ’20s NYPD det. finally gets headstone Not forgotten Michael Nagle The woman credited with saving the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge in the 1880s was honored with a posthumous degree on Saturday — and even delivered a commencement speech to graduates with the assistance of AI. Emily Warren Roebling was honored at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s bicentennial graduation ceremony for her role. Her husband, Washington Roebling, the project’s chief engineer and a Troy University alum, became bedridden when the project was well underway in 1872. She stepped up to be his nurse and secretary and reviewed construction plans, visited the site and met with contractors and officials. RPI researchers used artificial intelligence to create a script for Roebling, read by actress Liz Wisan, who played the Victorian trailblazer in the HBO series “The Gilded Age.” Deirdre Bardolf AI speech bridges history 1Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is accurate as of 4/16/2024. Tier 1 $25,000.00–$999,999,999.99 features an annual percentage yield of 5.55%. Tier 2 $0–$24,999.99 features an annual percentage yield of 0.10%. Initial minimum opening deposit to earn the higher interest rate on the Promo Flagstar Savings Plus account is $25,000.00 and must be “New Money,” which is defined as money that is not currently on deposit in any Flagstar Bank account (except maturing CDs). Additionally, (i) account must be funded within 60 days of the approval date and (ii) early account closure fee and reclamation of interest paid may be imposed for accounts closed within 180 days. The 5.55% APY is guaranteed for the first 5 months after account opening. After the promotional period, the account will earn the posted interest rate of the Flagstar Savings Plus accounts, which is a variable rate and subject to change. A maintenance service charge of $15 will be imposed every statement cycle if the average daily Collected Balance in the account is less than $10,000. This charge may be waived if the account is linked to any Flagstar Bank personal checking account. Not available for public units. Fees may reduce earnings. Personal accounts only. Limited time offer. Area restrictions may apply. If you are a Private Bank client, please contact your Private Client Group to enroll. Member FDIC Equal Housing Lender Let the numbers do the talking. Earn 5.55% APY for 5 months when you deposit $25,000 or more. Open today at flagstar.com/555 Promo Flagstar Savings Plus 5.55% APY1 Let’s align the stars

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com27 A VARIETY OF MEN’S SHIRTS TO CHOOSE FROM! AVAILABLE ONLY FROM THE BRADFORD EXCHANGE With artwork that shows off your passions combined with bold design elements, these casual men’s shirts make a unique yet comfortable additions to your wardrobe. Styles featuring licensed artwork or original designs make it easy to find the perfect look to match your unique personality. Choose from casual Hawaiian-style shirts with artwork officially licensed by the USMC, U.S. Army ® , U.S. Navy ® , U.S. Air Force™, STAR WARS ™, and acclaimed artist Al Agnew. Each of these lightweight viscose shirts features a loose fit and button-front closure for a cool and comfortable fit, and a side slit at the hem lets you move freely. Plus, with 5 sizes, medium to XXXL, to choose from, you’re certain to get a great fit. Imported. AN EXCEPTIONAL VALUE NOT AVAILABLE IN STORES The STAR WARS™ men’s shirts are available now at the remarkable price of just $99.95* each, payable in 3 easy installments of just $33.32, while the rest of the shirts in this collection are an exceptional value at $89.99*, payable in 3 installments of 29.98. Your purchase is backed by our unconditional 90-day guarantee. Sizes XXL-XXXL, add $10. To order, send no money now; just mail in the Priority Reservation. These distinctive fashion designs are available only from The Bradford Exchange, and we expect strong demand. So don’t miss out order today! 4. Moon Wolf 5. I’d Rather Be Fishing 6. U.S. Marines Available in Men’s Sizes Medium to XXXL 3. We the People 2. STAR WARS The Mandalorian™ 1. STAR WARS™ www.airforce.com Officially Licensed Product the U.S. Air Force. Endorsement by the U.S. Air Force is neither intended nor implied. ®Officially Licensed Product of the United States Marine Corps. Officially Licensed ®Product of the Department of the Navy. ®Official Licensed Product of the U.S. Army. By federal law, licensing fees paid to the U.S. Army for use of its trademarks provide support to the Army Trademark Licensing Program, and net licensing revenue is devoted to U.S. Army Morale, Welfare, and Recreation programs. U.S. Army name, trademarks and logos are protected under federal law and used under license by The Bradford Exchange. ©Agnew 2024. Al Agnew® is a registered trademark of The Al Agnew collection Trust. © & ™ Lucasfilm Ltd. Where Passion Becomes Art Signature Mrs. Mr. Ms. Name (Please Print Clearly) Address City State Zip Email PRIORITY RESERVATION SEND NO MONEY NOW Name (Please Print Clearly) City State Zip Name (Please Print Clearly) Name (Please Print Clearly) The Bradford Exchange 9345 Milwaukee Avenue, Niles, Illinois 60714-1393 U.S.A. YES! Please reserve the Men’s Shirt(s) for me as described in this announcement with the design(s) and size(s) indicated below. *Plus $13.99 shipping and service, see bradfordexchange.com. Please allow 2-4 weeks after initial payment for shipment. Sales subject to product availability and order acceptance. E39561 Order Today at bradfordexchange.com/Shirts Connect with Us! ©2024TheBradfordExchange 01-39546-001-ZIBNYMPO TO COMPLETE YOUR ORDER, PLEASE ANSWER THE DETAILS BELOW: ❑ 1. STAR WARS™ 01-40679-001 Size ______ ❑ 2. STAR WARS The Mandalorian™ 01-40814-001 Size ______ ❑ 3. We the People 01-39546-001 Size ______ ❑ 4. Moon Wolf 01-40650-001 Size ______ ❑ 5. I’d Rather Be Fishing 01-40649-001 Size ______ ❑ 6. U.S. Marines 01-40645-001 Size ______ ❑ 7. U.S. Army ® 01-40646-001 Size ______ ❑ 8. U.S. Navy ® 01-40647-001 Size ______ ❑ 9. U.S. Air Force ™ 01-40648-001 Size ______ 8. U.S. Navy® 9. U.S. Air Force ™ Military Designs Available in 4 Branches 7. U.S. Army® Available in Men’s Sizes M, L, XL, XXL, and XXXL

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 28 Post Weather Report World cities TODAY TOMORROW Regional cities TODAY TOMORROW Sun and Moon New York Tides TODAY TOMORROW High Tide for 1st 2nd 1st 2nd Bridgeport 67/54 Peekskill White Plains Garden City Sussex Newark Paterson Asbury Park Manasquan Toms River Long Beach Atlantic City Ocean City La G Sandy Hook Long Beach Deer Park JFK Montauk Riverhead Southampton Showers T-storms Rain Flurries Snow Ice Cold Warm Stationary Fronts Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. Forecast high/low temperatures are given for selected cities. -10s -0s 0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s 100s 110s Almanac Temperature Departure from Normal Precipitation Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, r-rain, t-thunderstorms, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice Stamford Huntington Athens 80/65/pc 81/66/s Baghdad 101/74/pc 101/78/pc Beijing 83/61/c 82/59/s Berlin 69/52/sh 74/56/pc Cairo 99/77/pc 104/73/s Dublin 67/49/s 66/49/s Geneva 72/50/r 73/56/sh Hong Kong 79/74/t 80/75/t Jerusalem 87/64/pc 90/66/pc Kabul 82/57/s 81/54/c London 72/50/pc 70/47/s Madrid 69/47/s 69/50/pc Mexico City 87/59/pc 90/59/s Montreal 78/61/s 82/62/pc Moscow 67/47/s 72/53/pc Paris 69/52/pc 72/55/sh Rio de Janeiro 83/74/s 82/75/pc Rome 76/61/t 82/63/pc Sydney 64/49/s 66/54/pc Tokyo 79/61/r 69/63/t Albany 78/54/pc 83/58/pc Danbury 70/50/pc 74/53/pc Glens Falls 76/51/pc 80/55/pc Gr Barrington 71/49/pc 79/52/pc Kingston 74/53/pc 80/54/pc Liberty 70/52/c 76/51/pc Monticello 70/52/c 75/51/pc Newburgh 72/54/c 77/53/pc Poughkeepsie 74/52/c 78/52/pc Saratoga Springs 77/52/pc 83/57/pc Stroudsburg 75/53/c 78/55/pc Torrington 67/50/pc 76/53/pc Syracuse 80/58/sh 87/62/pc Coney Island 5:29a 6:02p 6:17a 6:43p Fire Island 5:37a 6:08p 6:16a 6:45p Hempstead 9:54a 10:03p 10:35a 10:35p Huntington 9:35a 9:46p 10:19a 10:24p Jones Inlet 5:13a 5:46p 6:01a 6:27p Montauk Point 6:59a 7:19p 7:41a 7:58p Port Washington 10:03a 10:12p 10:44a 10:42p Sandy Hook 5:33a 6:06p 6:21a 6:47p YESTERDAY’S CONDITIONS AT CENTRAL PARK THROUGH 12PM Sunrise today ........................ 5:34 a.m. Sunset tonight ...................... 8:10 p.m. Moonrise today .................... 4:30 p.m. Moonset today ...................... 3:32 a.m. High: 69, Low: 59, Mean: 64 Yesterday: 0 degrees Yesterday: 0.00”, Month: 1.50”, Year: 21.36”, Normal year to date: 17.52” Cooling Degree days yesterday.................0 Total for the month (normal) ...........18 (25) Total since Jan. 1 (normal) ...............37 (39) Last year to date .......................................75 Heat Index (at noon yest.) ..................... 67 UV index (for Sun.) ............... 4 (Moderate) Humidity (at noon) .............................. 59% Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather.com ©2024 Forecast data is current as of 12 p.m. yesterday. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Today: Clouds giving way to some sun. High 69 to 75. Tonight: Partly cloudy. Low 52 to 58. Mostly sunny. High 74 to 80. Evening A moonlit sky. Low 58 to 64. Tomorrow night: A moonlit sky. Low 54 to 60. Tomorrow: Pleasant with sunshine and patchy clouds. High 69 to 75. Mostly sunny. High 77 to 83. Evening A moonlit sky. Low 62 to 68. Full May 23 Last May 30 New June 6 First June 14 Sunday, May 19, 2024 65/54 71/53 69/53 67/54 74/54 73/58 72/55 63/54 63/53 65/51 61/54 67/52 63/54 72/55 64/57 64/55 66/53 66/54 68/55 61/52 62/51 60/50 Pollen: High Predominant pollen: Oak, Pine, Mulberry AQI rating: (for Sun.) ...................Moderate AIR QUALITY By Lauren Elkies Schram America’s “panda”monium is coming to an end. The last giant pandas in the US will head back to China later this year, more than two decades after capturing hearts in Atlanta and beyond. Zoo Atlanta is preparing to return beloved pandas Lun Lun and Yang Yang and their twin offspring, Ya Lun and Xi Lun, to China before the end of the year. The four black and white bears have been the only pandas in the US since three from the National Zoo in Washington, DC, were sent back to their homeland in November after residing there for 10 years. Lun Lun and Yang Yang arrived in Atlanta in 1999 via a 25-year contract that expires late this year. Ya Lun and Xi Lun were born at the zoo in 2016. “The terms of Zoo Atlanta’s giant panda loan with China have always included the stipulation that per the terms of the loan agreement, all offspring of Lun Lun and Yang Yang travel to China when they are of age,” the zoo said in a statement in November. “All five of Ya Lun’s and Xi Lun’s older siblings have done so and now live in China.” China loans pandas abroad as a gesture of goodwill but retains ownership of them and their cubs. As tensions have mounted between the two nations, US zoos have sent their pandas back to China as loan agreements have lapsed. lschram@nypost.com bearwell Pandas ending US stay china-bound: Pandas were only on loan from Beijing. There’s a perfect place for your mom or dad. And we’ll help you find it. ASSISTED LIVING MEMORY CARE INDEPENDENT LIVING HOME CARE We know that finding the right senior care for your mom or dad is a big decision. That’s where A Place for Mom comes in. Our senior living advisory service ensures you’ll get a full understanding of all the options in your area based on your loved one’s care needs and budget. You’ll get more than just expert advice and recommendations. You’ll also get peace of mind. Start the conversation with one of our expert Senior Living Advisors today. Our service comes at no cost to your family. Connect with us at 866.333.4907.

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com29 Faith The Center of it All Engraved Inside of the Band with an Inspirational Sentiment 11 Genuine Diamonds Handcrafted of Solid Sterling Silver The Faith Diamond Ring Order Today at bradfordexchange.com/22003 Beautifully celebrate your love of faith with shimmering style when you wear “The Faith” Diamond Ring—available only from The Bradford Exchange. Hand-crafted in precious solid sterling silver enhanced with a fine layer of rhodium plating for maximum shine and beauty, the ring’s unique design features a center ribbon—engraved with the word “FAITH”—wrapping around a split-style band. A genuine diamond sparkles at the center of the word “FAITH,” while a dazzling pavé with 10 additional genuine diamonds enhances the band. For added inspiration, the inside of the band is elegantly engraved with the sentiment, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” A Remarkable Value... Available for a Limited Time Available in whole and half sizes 5-12, this ring is a remarkable value at $119.99*, payable in 4 easy installments of just $30.00 and backed by our 120-day guarantee. It arrives in a custom presentation case and gift box, along with a Certificate of Authenticity. To reserve, send no money now; just mail the Priority Reservation today! *Plus a total of $10.98 shipping and service (see bradfordexchange.com). Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery after we receive your initial deposit. All sales subject to product availability and order acceptance. Signature Mrs. Mr. Ms. Name (Please Print Clearly) Address City State Zip Email (optional) 01-22003-001-E39561 YES. Please reserve “The Faith” Diamond Ring for me as described in this announcement. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED To assure a proper fit, a ring sizer will be sent to you after your reservation has been accepted. Ring Size ______ (If known) The Bradford Exchange P.O. Box 806, Morton Grove, IL 60053-0806 Uniquely Designed. Exclusively Yours. ©2024 The Bradford Exchange 01-22003-001-ZINYPQR PRIORITY RESERVATION SEND NO MONEY NOW Exclusively from The Bradford Exchange Order Today at bradfordexchange.com/22003 SCAN HERE TO SHOP

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 30 By Sara Nathan T HEY may be estranged, but Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle still have one thing left in common. The future queen and the woman who sees herself as the true queen of California are both lucky enough to dip into the priceless jewelry collection that belonged to Princess Diana, the mother-in-law neither of them knew. While in Nigeria on her threeday faux-royal tour with Prince Harry last weekend, Markle, 42, displayed a delicate diamond cross that glinted in the sun as she attended a reception for military families in Abuja. Sources told Page Six that the never-before-seen necklace was gifted to Markle by her husband and was from his mother’s private collection. “Diana remains a prominent force in Harry’s life and as a result, Meghan’s,” a source who knows the couple told us. “So much of his work is inspired by his mum, and it’s evident how much she still means to him. “A gift to his wife that once belonged to his mother is incredibly meaningful and that isn’t lost on his wife.” The appearance of the cross has set off intrigue, however, as to its origin. One London socialite who knows Markle mused to Page Six, “Meghan likes to curate her jewelry to tell a certain story. “I find it hard to believe that she’s been sitting on this necklace for five years.” Additionally, Diana, who died aged 37 in August 1997, was never pictured wearing the piece of jewelry in public. ‘Don’t recognize this’ “No — I didn’t recognize this at all,” said one insider who worked closely with Diana. “In fact, Diana was ever the professional and she generally avoided wearing religious motifs of any kind because they have the potential to offend people, so she would never usually wear such a thing,” the insider said. Indeed, Diana was pictured wearing a cross in public just twice: once with her own, which she donated to charity and once with a cross she had borrowed from a friend. The cross she owned was seen when, while hugging HIV-positive children in San Paulo, Brazil, in April 1991, one little baby reached up to grab her gold necklace. The princess donated the cross and chain for a charity auction which was to take place early in September 1997. It was put in storage for 20 years following her death and then reportedly sold to an Australian collector for an undisclosed amount. The borrowed cross was the impressively large Attallah Cross — a pendant made of square-cut amethysts accentuated by circular diamonds in the 1920s by Garrard, the royal family’s longtime jeweler, and bought in the 1980s by Diana’s friend, businessman Naim Attallah, who loaned it to her for a charity gala. Kim K got her cross Most notably, Diana wore the cross on a necklace in October 1987, when she paired it with a Catherine Walker dress to a charity gala in London. In January 2023 it went up for auction in London and was sold for $197,453. The lucky owner who outbid everyone? Kim Kardashian. In fact, the full extent of Diana’s gem collection remains as mysterious as the origins of Meghan’s new neckwear. When she died in 1997, Diana’s will left her money — around $34 million before taxes at the time — to her sons, and asked for them to get three-quarters of her physical possessions. Her 17 godchildren would share the other quarter. Her executors changed parts of the will, limiting her godchildren to one memento each and handing William and Harry all of her jewels. That change may have been influenced by a special “letter of wishes” which was revealed during a bizarre court case in 2002, when Diana’s butler Paul Burrell was accused of stealing 301 items from her apartment after her death. During the trial Burrell’s attorney revealed that Diana had written to her future executors, “I How Meghan got Diana’s crown jewels Markle and Kate Middleton have nothing JEWEL QUEEN: Princess Kate frequently wears the Lover’s Knot tiara, which Diana also loved to wear. Queen Mary, Harry’s great-great-grandmother, ordered it from Garrard in 1914. Shutterstock

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com31 in common – except priceless heirlooms would like you to allocate all my jewelry to the share to be held by my sons, so that their wives may, in due course, have it or use it. I leave the exact division of the jewelry to your discretion.” The trial, incidentally, ended when Queen Elizabeth stepped in at the 11th hour to tell her staff that she “had a recollection” that Burrell had had permission to take items from Diana’s apartment, none of which were jewelry. Both William and Harry’s engagements and marriages have brought at least some items from their mother’s collection into the public light, although many pieces of jewelry worn by Diana have never been seen since her death. But the best-known of Diana’s jewels — her engagement ring, designed by Garrard and featuring a 12-carat blue oval sapphire, surrounded by 14 solitaire diamonds, set on a white-gold band of 18 karats — was unveiled in 2010 on Kate’s hand, to gasps, when she and William announced their own engagement. “I thought it was quite nice because obviously, she’s not going to be around to share any of the fun and excitement of it all — this was my way of keeping her close to it all,” William said. Kate called the choice “very, very special” and called the ring “beautiful,” adding, “I just hope I look after it.” ‘Never gave Willy it’ Even that ring has intrigue swirling around it. There were longtime rumors that Harry had initially picked the ring after Diana’s death but then given it to William to show his approval of Kate. Burrell, the former butler, offered a particularly detailed version in which Harry chose the ring, saying, “I remember when I held mummy’s hand when I was a small boy and that ring always hurt me because it was so big.” But in his memoir, “Spare,” Harry hit back, saying, “The papers published florid stories about the moment I realized Willy and Kate were well matched, the moment I appreciated the depth of their love and thus decided to gift Willy the ring I’d inherited from Mummy, the legendary sapphire, a tender moment between brothers, a bonding moment for all three of us, and absolute rubbish: none of it ever happened. “I never gave Willy that ring because it wasn’t mine to give. He already had it,” he added. “He’d asked for it after Mummy died, and I’d been more than happy to let it go.” Meghan’s own engagement ring has ties to Diana. It is made up of three diamonds, with one threecarat in the center flanked by two smaller stones on the sides. The two side stones are from Diana’s personal collection, while the center stone is from Botswana, a country close to Harry’s heart. Celebrity jeweler Lorraine Schwartz has since added more diamonds to the band. Both Kate and Meghan have been frequently seen in Diana’s pieces. Kate has worn the Lover’s Knot tiara, known as being a favorite of Diana’s, several times. She has also worn pearl earrings given to Diana as a wedding present alongside a pearl bracelet designed by Nigel Milne that Diana wore with her “Elvis” outfit in Hong Kong in 1981. Not to be outdone, Markle wore Princess Diana’s aquamarine ring to her wedding reception in May 2018. And she also wore Diana’s delicate Cartier diamond tennis bracelet for her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey. She chose it because, a spokesperson told the “Today Show,” “they wanted to wear the bracelet to have [Harry’s] mother there with them during the interview.” Diana’s $1.1M dress The interest in Diana is not, of course, confined to William, Harry and their wives. Darren Julien, who runs Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, recently sold a single Diana evening dress by Jacques Azagury for more than $1.1 million. “Anything out there that was Diana’s is going for crazy money, we’re seeing all time records,” he told Page Six. The auction house has an upcoming sale items associated with Diana and Julien said that crowds in Hong Kong flocked to an exhibition of them. He has also never seen Markle’s cross necklace before, he told Page Six, adding, “It doesn’t mean that she [Diana] didn’t wear it, of course.” With photographic proof that it was Diana’s, the necklace would likely sell for up to $50,000. “But they will never sell it,” he said. Getty Images (3) STATEMENT PIECE: Meghan Markle shed new light on the jewelry collection Princess Diana passed to her sons by revealing this diamond-and-gold cross (above) on her trip to Nigeria, which sources said belonged to her late mother-in-law. Intrigue now surrounds the cross: one person close to Diana said they had never seen it. And a person who knows Markle said, “I find it hard to believe that she’s been sitting on this necklace for five years.” BLING RING: Prince Harry took diamonds from his mother’s personal collection to surround the main three-carat stone in Markle’s engagement ring. COLLECTOR: Among Diana’s favorites were butterfly motif earrings. Markle wore them in 2018 while a working royal. Diana also had a matching necklace. TREASURED: This aquamarine ring was on Markle’s right hand as she left Windsor Castle on her way to her wedding reception. Diana wore it post-divorce. GAME, SET, MATCH: Markle wore Diana’s tennis bracelet (center) for her controversial interview with Oprah Winfrey. Her motherin-law wore it frequently. Getty Images Getty Images CBS Getty Images

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 32

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com33 D eep-pocketed Americans are swarming the bucolic Cotswolds outside London to live like lords, renting estates for pheasant-shooting weekends for an eye-popping $250,000. “Americans will pay up to $250,000 for a shooting weekend. A lot of these places do it. You arrive at tea time on Friday and leave after lunch on Sunday, with shooting all day Saturday,” says bestselling author Plum Sykes, whose new book “Wives Like Us” chronicles the overthe-top lifestyle of Americans and Brits through the eyes of a butler named Ian. Sykes, a Vogue contributor, is no stranger to the worlds that she satirizes with love and glee. She made her name as an “it girl” in New York with her twin sister, Lucy, capturing a certain class of women in her 2004 bestseller, “Bergdorf Blondes.” Now, it’s as if Sykes’ “Bergdorf Blondes” grew up, got married and moved to the British countryside. Just about 90 miles northwest of London — about the same distance that Southampton is from Manhattan — the Cotswolds was once known for its sleepy-chic ways. Amanda Brooks, the former fashion director at Barneys, set a new tone when she launched Cutter Brooks — a clothing and antiques shop — in the market town Stow-on-theWold in 2018. The spot was soon serving as a gathering place for Americans and Brits in the region, Sykes said. Then came the pandemic, and rich Londoners flocked to the Cotswolds’ rolling hills and quintessential English villages dotted with stone cottages. “It’s like what happened to the Hamptons,” Sykes said. Celebrity sightings Among the celebs who might be spotted in towns like Tetbury — just a five-minute drive from King Charles’ beloved Highgrove House estate — is soccer legend David Beckham, who has a Cotswolds estate with his former Spice Girl wife, Victoria. “The joke is he wants a knighthood,” Sykes said. Also for rent nearby is the 600- acre Churchill Manor in Oxfordshire, owned by Annabel Brooks, Amanda’s sister-in-law and a former LA-based actress married to Oscar-nominated British film director and “Fatal Attraction” screenwriter James Dearden. Annabel Brooks also owns Avenue Properties, which lists a curated collection of some of the world’s most exclusive rental homes worldwide and rents to many American celebs and Hollywood stars, although it does not offer shooting. Among the boldfaced names who have rented the 19th-century Georgian home — which features nine bedrooms, seven baths, a pool, tennis court and two coach houses starting at about $38,000 a week — was Rebecca Hessel Cohen, the owner of cult-fave LoveShackFancy, who produced a photo shoot on the grounds. Vogue model Adwoa Aboah recently hosted her 30th birthday party at the Coombe End Estate in Gloucestershire, a historic manor house set in 2,500 private acres. Booking the 12- bedroom, 11-bath manor house, which includes a spa area with a massage room, sauna, plunge pool and hot tub, asks around $38,000 a week to start. Add in a shooting party at a manor like this, and the tab can skyrocket to $250,000. Other famous homes in the Cotswolds rent not only to wellheeled partiers, but also to film and movie productions. Badminton in Gloucestershire, home to the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, is where streaming series like Guy Ritchie’s “The Gentlemen” and the BBC’s “The Pursuit of Love” were shot, not to mention serving as the interior of the Duke of Hastings’ estate for many steamy scenes in the first season of “Bridgerton.” Badminton’s website says it is available for rent for “weddings, corporate activities and filming.” There’s also The Badminton Shoot, which, as described on the site, is available starting with partridge season in October and “focused on delivering high quality shooting and hospitality in a stunning landscape in the South of the Cotswolds.” Sykes’ home was built from the ground up, on a remote sheep farm in the Cotswolds Hills on the edge of a valley. The fact that it is modern is also part of its charm — a charm that attracts more than just fat-cat Americans and celebs living large. In demand Lord Evgeny Lebedev, the son of a Russian oligarch and KGB operative who helped put Vladimir Putin in power, is also a press baron in Britain known for hosting controversial parties in Perugia, Italy, where then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson once arrived following a NATO meeting. Evgeny once asked to rent Sykes’ home for two weeks. She declined, as it was during a time when she was in the house with her kids. However, while on holiday, Sykes did rent her home to a “lovely” Chicago family. “They were inspired to come here after watching “The Holiday,” and they said they felt like they were in the movie the whole time,” she said. Finally, there’s Belvoir — pronounced “Beaver”— Castle, the ancestral home of the Duke and Duchess of Rutland, David and Emma Manners. Films like “The Da Vinci Code” and streaming series like “The Crown” were shot there. When Americans rent there, the duke and duchess may attend the shooting weekends, or at least pop in to say hello. “It’s one of the things the Brits are selling,” Sykes said. “It’s like an export — the English countryside.” Lording it over To feel royal, Americans just need the buck$ Good Manors: In GB, (clockwise from above) Badminton of “The Gentlemen” Fame, Cornwall and Coombe can be yours — to rent. Getty Images jennifer GOULD

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New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com35 Featuring Hamilton’s adorable Faithful Fuzzies® teddy bear, “A Love So Dear” is a wonderfully heartfelt tribute to someone whose memory you’ll always hold in your heart. Sweetly crafted by hand. From teddy’s bouquet of sculpted lilies to the stone-look of the memorial bench that’s graced with a tender, uplifting sentiment, every detail is crafted and painted by hand. And just as teddy takes comfort in a visiting cardinal friend, you will too ... knowing the spirit of your loved one is near. Special 30-day Free Preview. Limited to only 95 casting days, “A Love So Dear” is hand-numbered and sent with a Certificate of Authenticity. Whether to cherish and take comfort in yourself, or to share with someone who could use a little “bear” hug, simply mail in the coupon below for a no-risk Free Preview. It’s then yours to keep for the low issue price of just $39.99 (plus $9.99 shipping and service, and sales tax; see HamiltonCollection. com); billed with shipment. 100% money-back guarantee! A special little “bear” hug to help comfort a hurting heart. Order Online: HamiltonCollection.com/LoveBear Those we love don’t go away, they walk beside us every day. Exclusive Exclusive Hamilton Figurine Debut Memorial bench shares a comforting sentiment. Scan Code to Shop 09-08757-001-I16901 Send No Money Now! (Please print clearly.) Name_________________________________________________________________________ Address_______________________________________________________________________ City_______________________________________ State___________Zip_________________ Email_________________________________________________________________________ Signature______________________________________________________________________ ❑YES! Please accept my order for “A Love So Dear” as described in this announcement. Subject to product availability and credit approval. Please allow 2 to 4 weeks for shipment. OPTIONAL (for product & shipping confirmation) 09-08757-001-ZDNYQR ©2024 HC. All Rights Reserved. The Hamilton Collection 9204 Center For The Arts Drive Niles, Illinois 60714-1300

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 36 By Jeanette Settembre T HIRD time’s a charm for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’s Jena Sims. It took three tries for the 35-year-old model, actress and wife to pro-golfer Brooks Koepka to be named co-winner of The Swim Search and a 2024 rookie in the SI Swimsuit issue. “You can apply every single year until you die,” quipped Sims, who is also a mom to 10-month-old Crew. She’s in good company. Some 52 women — including Kate Upton, Christie Brinkley and Brittany Mahomes — had to try three times. The timing wasn’t ideal. Sims was just four months postpartum when she was photographed by Yu Tsai Sims in Mexico for the magazine. “As soon as I was cleared to, I started eating really clean and working out. I didn’t kill myself over it. I was breastfeeding and recovering from a C-section, but when they gave me a firm date. I was like, it’s go time,” the 5-foot-8 stunner told The Post. “I worked out six days a week.” Koepka — the 34-year-old, threetime winner of the PGA Championship and two-time winner of the US Open — gave her crucial support. “I sat him down and said this is going to be the equivalent of me training for a major golf tournament and it kind of resonated with him,” she said. “He really stepped up. At that time there weren’t any major tournaments coming up for him,” she added. “If I had a workout and Crew wasn’t asleep, he would take care of Crew and just completely worked his schedule around mine.” Born and raised in Winder, Ga., Sims was a small town beauty queen by age 15 and won the Miss Georgia Teen USA crown at 18. She credits pageant life with helping her come out of her shell — and launching her acting and modeling career. Mary Beth Koeth for NY Post (2) Whether making the first move on Brooks Koepka or getting fit after baby, the model is in it to win Alice Stewart, a CNN political commentator who worked on several GOP presidential campaigns, died Saturday at age 58 after a medical emergency, law-enforcement officials said. The frequent “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” guest was found dead outdoors in the Bellevue neighborhood of Alexandria, Va. “Alice was a very dear friend and colleague to all of us at CNN,” Mark Thompson, the network’s CEO, said in an email to staff Saturday. Katherine Donlevy CNN’s Stewart dead at 58 leased the career criminal with only an order of protection standing between him and his alleged victim. “The judge is going against the request of the DA’s Office and against the legal desire of the victims,” the employee’s family fumed. The Queens DA did not respond to The Post’s request for comment. Martinez allegedly pounced on the worker as he was putting away shopping carts, with witnesses saying he ripped the man’s headphones out and smacked him around with his own hat. The scuffle lasted around 40 seconds until the worker managed to escape, but Martinez allegedly tried to put up a fight when cops arrived. In December, the same worker made headlines when he was beaten by a shoplifter who had run out of the store and cornered him in the parking lot. A store butcher saw what was happening and intervened, saving the young man. ‘Attacker’ of autistic clerk free By Katherine Donlevy and Joe Marino The ex-con who allegedly attacked a 20-year-old worker with autism in a Queens Stop & Shop parking lot was cut loose without bail Saturday, enraging the victim’s family. Alvin Martinez (right), 62, was granted nonmonetary release despite the Queens District Attorney’s pleas to set bail against the alleged attacker. “Another example of our revolving door justice system working on behalf of the violent offenders while innocent people suffer,” a relative of the victim, who has not been publicly identified, told The Post. Martinez allegedly targeted the disabled worker outside the Rockaway Park store Thursday, marking the second time in less than six months the employee was roughed up by a stranger. Martinez has a rap sheet dating back to 1982, including priors for criminal possession of stolen property, criminal possession of controlled substance, petit larceny and grand larceny. He was arraigned on one count of felony robbery, and various counts of assault, menacing and criminal possession of stolen property, all misdemeanors. He also faces a violation for harassment. Judge Germaine August, a former legal aid attorney for almost 30 years, re-

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com37 “I learned so much about confidence, stage presence, interview skills and communication,” she said. “I used to be so shy.” But she empathizes with the former title holders — Miss USA Noelia Voigt, 24, and Miss Teen USA Uma Sofia Srivastava, 17 — who have stepped down at the embattled Miss USA Organization in recent weeks. “I feel for those girls,” she said. “It’s got to be so heartbreaking to have those expectations and to reach your goal and have it not taken away, but have it not live up to what you dream of as a little girl.” In 2009, when she was in her early 20s, Sims moved to LA and soon found work as an actress. “I got to be the blonde in the horror film that gets her head chopped off,” she said, referring to her role in 2012’s “Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader!” She’s also been eaten by sharks onscreen — in 2015’s “3-Headed Shark Attack” and 2017’s “Sharknado 5: Global Swarming.” But the biggest role she booked was as Koepka’s significant other. In 2015, she made the first move. “I slid into Brooks’ DMs. I had this selfie of me in my apartment in LA and I had a plant that was behind me and it was twiggy. It had died. I said, ‘Does this filter make my plant look tan?’ ” she recalled. “He responded and we were off to the races after that.” Their first date was the Masters Tournament, and, as their courtship progressed, Sims made a point of being honest and open. “If I was thinking about him I would tell him. I didn’t play the game,” she said. “If you want your man, if you really feel the connection, which I did with Brooks, you have to take a little initiative.” The approach worked. The two tied the knot in June 2022 in Turks and Caicos. Now Sims runs in a tight circle of wives and athletes. At last Thursday’s SI Swim party at the Hard Rock Hotel Times Square, she posed with fellow WAG and SI Rookie Brittany Mahomes. Sims and the wife of Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes go back years: They first met at the ESPY awards in 2019 and hit it off. “I relate to her because we’re so, in a way, could be misunderstood. Most stereotypical golf wives don’t have their own career. Their whole life is traveling and supporting their husbands on tour. Which, there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s just not for me personally,” she said. “That’s not what attracted Brooks to me, and I’m sure that’s not what attracted Patrick to her.” She insists that Mahomes hasn’t been portrayed fairly. “She’s so kind. The version you see of her in your head is the loud, boisterous, almost abrasive character you see on social media — she’s not like that in person,” Sims said. “She’s so real and she’s beautiful.” Sims has had to learn to just block out the negativity. “I always tell myself, you can be the ripest, juiciest peach and there’s always going to be someone who doesn’t like peaches,” she said. “There’ll always be people who will be like, ‘get a job,’ or ‘stop spending your husband’s money’ or ‘wow it’s a shame you don’t have any of your own hobbies or talent.’ ” charmed life: Jena Sims applied for the Sports Illustrated Swim Search three times before winning a place in this year’s swimsuit issue (right). She’s in good company: Kate Upton and Christie Brinkley also applied three times before making it in the magazine. Courtesy of Jena Sims; USA TODAY Network Sports Illustrated PLANTING THE SEEDS: Sims took the initiative with Brooks Koepka (above) by sliding into his DMs with a photo and a joke about a dying tree (left). The two are now married and live in Jupiter, Fla., with their baby, Crew.

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 38 Events Include: Perfect Pairings of Wine & Food with Kevin Zraly TUESDAY, JUNE 4 6:00PM – 9:00PM Crabtree’s Kittle House Restaurant & Inn Chappaqua, NY Party on the Pier WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5 6:00PM – 9:00PM Tiki Beach at Playland Rye, NY Burger & Beer Blast THURSDAY, JUNE 6 6:00PM – 9:30PM Kensico Dam Plaza Valhalla, NY Wine Collectors’ Dinner FRIDAY, JUNE 7 6:00PM – 9:00PM Kanopi White Plains, NY Grand Tasting Village SATURDAY, JUNE 8 12:00PM – 4:00PM Kensico Dam Plaza Valhalla, NY Bubbly Brunch & Beats SUNDAY, JUNE 9 12:00PM – 4:00PM Hudson Prime Steakhouse Irvington, NY G E T Y O U R T I C K E T S ! Scan QR code for tickets and additional information westchestermagazine.com/winefood. PRESENTED BY PLATINUM SPONSORS WINE PARTNER GROUND BEEF SPONSOR CHARITY PARTNER FOLLOW US AT #WMWineandFood @WMWineandFood @westchestermagevents No one under 21 will be admitted to any event. No infants, strollers or pets.

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com39 opinions & ideas The most amazing buildings in the world that were never built P. 42-43 I F you want to know what Democrats are praying for, read the front-page headlines in The Washington Post, e.g.: “Inflation eased slightly in April, with timing for rate cuts still uncertain.” It isn’t just the timing that is uncertain. With inflation persistently elevated, it isn’t clear that rate cuts are coming at all for the foreseeable future. For months, Democrats have been telling themselves a very reassuring bedtime story that plays out in six parts: 1.) Inflation finally will be whipped, at which point 2.) the Fed is going to step in with some well-timed interest-rate cuts, 3.) putting upward pressure on real wages and 4.) lowering rates on mortgages and car loans, at which point 5.) the American people will offer three grateful cheers for Bidenomics and 6.) re-elect the president. Several of those six developments are not going to happen. Donald Trump may yet get Joe Biden reelected, but Fed chairman Jerome Powell isn’t going to save the president from a decades-overdue retirement. In Wednesday’s monthly inflation report, overall inflation was at 3.4% while “core” inflation — which excludes some volatile commodities such as groceries and gas — was at 3.6% — just under twice the Fed’s preferred rate of 2%. The usual story that inflation-wary politicians tell to voters is that things are better than they seem because “core” inflation is lower than overall inflation —“You’re in great shape, as long as you don’t have to drive or eat or consume anything that moves on a truck!” — but for Biden the story is reversed: Overall inflation has been partly eased by relatively large declines in food and fuel prices, but inflation for most things people buy is worse than it is at the grocery store or gas station. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices today are about 20% higher than they were when Biden was inaugurated in January of 2021. A basket of goods that cost you $1,000 in January 2021 would cost you about $1,200 today. An inflation rate of 3.6% is not great at any time, but an inflation rate of 3.6% on a consumer-price baseline that is 20% higher after years of persistently high inflation is even worse. Think of it this way: An extra 3.6% on a $1,000 purchase in 2021 would have cost you $36; the same 3.6 percent extra for the same goods at today’s more expensive prices adds $43. Which is to say, the problem for US consumers — and for Joe Biden — isn’t the inflation-rate snapshot for April. The problem is the years of persistently high inflation that preceded it. We overestimate the scope and the immediacy of presidents’ influence on the economy. Most big policy changes (such as changes in federal tax rates) still come from Congress, not the president, and many of the administrative actions that are within the president’s unilateral power (and there are far too many of these) either have a small effect on the overall economy or take a long time to produce results. The economy does not rise or fall on whether the president is good, smart, or cares about people like you — thank goodness! That being said, President Biden has done a lot to make inflation worse. In the COVID era and immediately thereafter, there was a great deal of inflation caused by supply-chain disruptions and similar COVID-related factors. But inflation today is being exacerbated by excessively high levels of debt-enabled government spending. Ultimately, that borrowing and spending is Congress’ doing, but early in his presidency, Biden expended a fair bit of political capital successfully fighting for big spending bills. And he continues to press for excessive spending and for irresponsible giveaways such as his student-loan scheme. The original idea was that a big gusher of government spending would prevent a deep or long post-COVID recession — and there was no deep or long post-COVID recession. What we got instead was anemic growth (and GDP contraction in the first two quarters of 2022) and the worst inflation we’ve endured since Jimmy Carter put on that cardigan back in the Age of Disco. The COVID economic crisis is long over. What Biden and the Democrats are doing today is attempting to bribe the American people with their own money. It is a strategy that has, unfortunately, worked many times before. But it doesn’t work very well when car-insurance rates are rising at 20% a year or when mortgage bankers and pawn shops are charging approximately the same interest rates. There isn’t going to be some lastminute economic miracle to save Joe Biden’s presidency. That poor bastard is going to have to run on his record. Kevin D. Williamson is national correspondent for The Dispatch and a writer in residence at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Kevin D. Williamson Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell (inset) isn’t rushing to set new interest rate cuts, and prices for things Americans buy are 20% higher than they were in January 2021. Getty Images (2) Mike Guillen/NY Post Dubious data The White House wants Americans to believe inflation is cooling — too bad the numbers don’t add up President Biden is trying to use falling inflation rates as a re-election talking point, but core inflation — 3.6% in April — remains almost twice the Fed’s preferred rate.

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 40 POSTSCRIPT Culture Club “Still a teacher working elsewhere. Like you really can’t f--king touch me.” — Bronx public-school educator Dulaina Almonte to The Post, after she was fired for an alleged inappropriate relationship with a female student and landed a new charter gig Chatter L OS Angeles has won the dubious distinction of being the most unaffordable city in America. A report from Creditnews Research found that a married couple earning the median income of $117,056 in Los Angeles cannot afford an average home in any neighborhood in the city. “Affordable” was defined as a monthly mortgage payment (interest and principal) that is no more than 25% of gross income. With the average rate on a 30- year fixed mortgage above 7.5% last October, Redfin reported that the typical US homebuyer’s monthly mortgage payment had risen to an alltime high of $2,866. In unaffordable Los Angeles, the typical monthly mortgage payment was $5,932. The annual income needed to afford a median-home priced home was $237,281. It was somewhat better in New York City, where Redfin found that an income of $197,734 was enough to afford a typical home. In Houston, an average home was affordable on an income of $92,185, while a family earning $143,187 could comfortably afford to buy a house in Miami, Florida, where the median home price was $525,000. What’s going on in Los Angeles? Part of the problem is California’s policy of discouraging the construction of single-family homes. In their quixotic pursuit of global climate leadership, state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 743 in 2013 to designate “vehicle miles traveled” as an “impact” on the environment under the 1970 California Environmental Quality Act. In practice, this “impact” means it’s virtually impossible to build homes in outlying areas, where land is more affordable. The premise of California has the most unaffordable housing in the nation — and there’s no relief in sight Susan Shelley “There’s always going to be that minority of people who ruin it for everyone.” — Irish cruise-ship staffer Adam Nunan, on lewd acts streamed over the NYCto-Dublin Portal installation SB 743 is this: more homeowners means more commuters driving long distances to work, and because transportation is the state’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, commuting homeowners cause climate change. In fact, this is blithering idiocy, because the entire state of California produces only about 1% of the planet’s greenhouse gasses. Even if the entire state vanished, the impact on the global climate would be negligible. It is utterly senseless to limit home construction simply to prevent California homeowners from driving to work. Yet that’s exactly what’s happening. According to the US Census Bureau, which tracks residential building permits by state, in 2023 there were 149,860 permits for the construction of single-family residences issued in Texas and 125,773 in Florida. In California, only 58,534. Housing prices are determined by supply and demand, and if new households are forming but housing is not built to accommodate them, the result is skyrocketing home prices and a generation of young families that are not living as well as their parents did. California politicians’ grandiose obsession with “leading” on climate — Gov. Gavin Newsom was at the Vatican this week to offer his advice to the world — is directly responsible for making Los Angeles, and the rest of the state, unaffordable. For more than a decade, state law has required utilities to comply with a Renewables Portfolio Standard, a mandate for an ever-increasing percentage of retail electricity sales to be generated by renewable energy. Sacramento defines this as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas and small hydroelectric plants that produce less than 30 megawatts. But California actually relies on electricity from large hydroelectric plants, one nuclear plant, aging gaspowered generating facilities and electricity imported from other states, because “renewables” are not adequate to meet the state’s needs, not even close. This costly, duplicative power purchasing has given California households electricity rates that are double the national average. According to the latest report from the Public Advocates Office of the California Public Utilities Commission, in the decade ending March 2024, residential electricity rates were up 82% for customers of San Diego Gas & Electric and 93% for customers of Southern California Edison, while In Northern California, residential customers of Pacific Gas & Electric saw their electricity rates surge 128%. Another climate policy contributing to the lack of affordability is the “Low Carbon Fuel Standard,” a regulatory system established by the 2006 “Global Warming Solutions Act.” The latest update to the regulations has been projected to add almost 50 cents per gallon to the price of gasoline to meet climate targets. Californians already pay roughly $2 per gallon more than the national average. The quickest path to affordability in California would be to repeal its useless, restrictive climate laws. More families would be able to buy homes — they might even have enough left to keep the lights on. Susan Shelley is a columnist for the Southern California News Group and VP of Communications for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. X: @Susan_Shelley Coastal crisis It takes an income of $237.281 to afford a house in LA now, the highest rate in the nation amid Gov. Gavin Newsom’s costly energy regulations. Getty Images; AP “Make my day, pal.” — Joe Biden, challenging Donald Trump to a public debate “Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!” — Trump accepting Biden’s offer, on Truth Social Grudge match

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com41 K-12 educators are divided on the use of AI tools in class. bot for teacher 21% 81% 74% — Gallup ’91 ’03 ’14 ’24 67% 6% More benefit — Pew Equal mix 25% More harm 32% 35% Not sure dentist.” His theory: lockdown scrambled our brains and society was suffering from a sort of longCOVID agoraphobia, or psychopathy. I wasn’t so sure. The crash in basic decency is playing out all over the country, not just in totalitarian Democrat fiefdoms like New York where there’s a higher percentage of antihumanists still scuttling around with their little masks on, grasping for a return to more restrictive times. Last week, Duke University graduates walked out of a commencement address by comedian Jerry Seinfeld, presumably because he’s Jewish. Squatters from New York to California are emboldened to plant their flags in other people’s homes, and then have the property owners arrested when they come knocking. Recently a mother went viral on TikTok after she sent another mother a $36 bill for a playdate. The tab included $3 for Goldfish crackers, $1 for a pump of hand soap the other mother’s child used to wash his hands, and $5 for electricity — because the kids played a video game. More frightening, the empathy vacuum has led to a spike in casual violence as well. While crimes like murder and rape are down in New T HE man who wakes me in the middle of the night rifling through the recycling bin outside our building has become a total jerk. He no longer bothers to close the lid, leaving it flung open and crushing the flowers on the railing behind it. If that weren’t bad enough, he scatters the unredeemable recyclables all over the ground, making a complete mess and violating the long-unspoken rule of tidiness between local garbage sifters and the residents they rely upon. The uncouth can collector isn’t the only example of bizarre, petty anti-social behavior I’ve noticed around town. Marijuana smoke chokes you around every corner. A plant thief is on the loose in my Brooklyn neighborhood, where businesses have posted photos of a woman going around snatching irises and geraniums from outside mom-and-pop shops. The other day my own barber, where I’ve been a loyal customer for years, asked me to leave mid-haircut and come back in an hour. He said had an errand to run. “You want me to walk home with half a haircut and return in an hour?” I asked, completely befuddled. “You can borrow a hat,” he shrugged. While he lost a faithful customer that day, I couldn’t understand in what universe this sort of behavior was acceptable and why it seemed to be on the rise everywhere. My haircut, after all, only takes 20 minutes. I wondered if I was just getting soft until one night over drinks a friend from Queens confirmed what I’d been noticing. “Everyone is so much ruder and more disrespectful lately,” he said, “waiters, delivery boys, even my chadwick moore York City there’s a new trend of derelicts sucker-punching strangers on the sidewalk — mostly women but a few male celebrities have fallen victim, too, including 66-year-old actor Steve Buscemi just last week. The same thing happened to actor Rick Moranis in 2020. The rudeness free-for-all is a product of living under leadership that blithely humiliates and deceives the people they’re elected to govern. What is uncontrolled spending on foreign wars, stagnant wages, a preoccupation with DEI and the migrant crisis — with its billions of dollars shelled out to criminal aliens committing asylum fraud — if not a clear message to taxpaying citizens that you do not matter. That, combined with bail reform, wastelands of homeless encampments in our cities, and an unchecked fentanyl epidemic, delivers the same pronouncement: if the government so clearly doesn’t care about its people and their basic wellbeing, why should anyone else? The most volatile and developmentally stunted members of our crumbling society have taken note, whether it’s by flinging your garbage on the ground searching for a nickel’s worth of aluminum or scowling under a man bun as they take your dinner order. Even as Democrat leaders like Mayor Adams and Gov. Hochul continue to demean the electorate by flying off to Europe for taxpayerfunded vacations (under the guise of cultural exchange programs or climate summits or whatever), the NYPD is under increasing pressure to reinstate broken windows policing. It’s not a cure but may send a message to criminals and jerks alike: being courteous for once is not a crime — you’ll probably even be happier if you do. Behaving badly New Yorkers are treating each other harsher than ever — and neglect by City Hall and Albany is only making things worse Modern-day New York is full of pot smoke and a plant thief is haunting Brooklyn (right), while Gov. Hochul and Mayor Adams are busy with international travel. Robert Miller; Paul Martinka; Chadwick Moore “Where were the gold bars found? . . . It is Nadine’s closet.” — NJ Sen. Bob Menendez’s lawyer, throwing wife Nadine Menendez under the bus during Bob’s bribery trial “He is OK . . . though incredibly sad for everyone that this has happened to while also walking the streets of New York.” — Steve Buscemi’s publicist, after the actor was randomly punched in Midtown A record low of Americans think it’s a good time to buy a house. home wreck — Mayor Adams, announcing a retail crime program allowing the NYPD to tap into store security cameras “The prerequisite to prosperity is

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 42 POSTSCRIPT Modernism T HE Never Built— the alternate universe of failed architecture proposals — sharpens and expands our view of the world. It showcases forgotten, often compelling, concepts that may yet prove useful, and certainly inspirational. It reminds us that our current reality could have easily been different. It reveals the many factors that can sink architecture, from finances and politics to internal squabbles, deception and bad luck. It proves that ideas don’t die even when buildings do. And it introduces us to a roster of talented architects and designers that may have been superstars if only that one undertaking had gotten off the drawing board. Phaidon’s “Atlas of Never Built Architecture” dazzles us with one more important facet of the Never Built equation: the often gorgeously rendered world of the visionary. The pure universe where architects can push boundaries — aesthetic, structural, social — without being held back by messy, borSam Lubell A new book details the fantastical designs – and enduring legacies — of Il Porto Vecchio, John Portman, Genoa, Italy, 1988 John Portman elevated the idea of hotel lobby from regal parlor to galactic extravaganza. For Genoa’s anticipated celebration of the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ departure from his home city to the New World, Portman turned his showmanship inside out. He proposed installing a triangular island in the city’s historic harbor, with a raised plaza shaded by a gridded concrete sunscreen — a nod to the medieval arcades of the city. There was also an undersea aquarium, with sail-shaped roof lights poking through the water’s surface. He intended to remove the highway cutting off the seashore from the row of twelfth-century buildings whose porticos once stood at the water’s edge. But the showstopper was a conical tower, sheathed in white Carrara marble, rising 843 feet above the plaza. It would be the tallest tower in Europe. A ring of splayed columns at the base created a loggia opening onto a bank of elevators to speed people to the observation deck 33 floors above the boats bobbing in the harbor. The pencilpoint tower was meant to “give Genoa a visual identity, like the Eiffel Tower does to Paris or the Sydney Opera House does to Australia,” Portman said when the project was unveiled. His plan was welcomed by some local press, but harshly dismissed by others as “retrograde,” and never won official approval. A different harbor aquarium, by Renzo Piano, opened in time for the Columbus quincentenary. The Portman Archives John Portman ing reality. Below are examples, in New York and beyond. While none were realized, most reflect an abiding drive for bigger, better, more ambitious, more radical architecture — while also still strongly resonating today. This story has been excerpted from The Atlas of Never Built Architecture by Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin (Phaidon, 2024). Unrealized potential The proposed 1,496-foot-tall Hyperboloid could’ve been the world's tallest skyscraper if plans got underway to replace Grand Central Terminal in the 1950s. Hyperboloid, I.M. Pei, New York, 1954 In the 1950s, Robert Young, newly elected chairman of the ailing New York Central Railroad, searched for ways to develop the valuable land where Grand Central Terminal sat. The railway, Young claimed, was losing $24 million a year operating the station. Young teamed up with property magnate William Zeckendorf, whose in-house architect, I.M. Pei, proposed the Hyperboloid, a 1,496-foot office tower and transit hub to replace the station. The 108-story, $100 million edifice would have been the world’s tallest — and most costly — structure, besting the Empire State Building by more than 200 feet. The hourglass shape and diagrid framing sharply reduced wind forces and required far less structural steel. Zeckendorf described the plan as more valuable than the existing “secondrate” Beaux-Arts building. Young, besieged by the railway’s plummeting profits and by a Senate investigation of the industry’s decline, committed suicide in January 1958, halting any hope for the structure. The terminal received city landmark status in 1967. I.M. Pei

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com43 major architecture projects that were never built in New York and beyond Few architects have lived up to the “more is more” spirit of postmodernism like Shin Takamatsu, whose outrageously expressive designs (many of them actually built) take inspiration from the spiritual, cosmic, futuristic and industrial. “I am an oldschool architect,” he once said. “Always dreaming of architecture as a monument or as something with a symbolic presence.” In 1995 Takamatsu entered a competition to develop a centerpiece for Rinku Town, a new commercial development on reclaimed land adjacent to Kansai International Airport in the Osaka suburb of Izumisano. Takamatsu’s Moon Tower, thirtyfive stories and 651 feet tall, accommodated a 300-room hotel, shops, a large casino, and a museum of the work of the French visionary artist Gérard Di-Maccio. It was topped by a shining, convex moon 295 feet in diameter. The reinforced-concrete building’s shaft was clad in glass with vertical textured lines and solid edges, offsetting the floating character of the shell-like “moon,” wedged between two “jaws” containing the museum: a crystalline hall showcasing Di-Maccio’s masterpiece, the massive oil painting Grande Toile (1997), on the ceiling. Beneath the museum, a hemispherical glass dome contained an otherworldly restaurant inspired by the artist’s work. In the end, the competition stalled and was never implemented. The DiMaccio museum eventually opened in 2010 in the tiny town of Niikappu, in the far north of Japan. Moon Tower, Shin Takamatsu, Osaka, Japan, 1987 Shin Takamatsu Finance Place, Henry Cobb, New York, 1963 In 1961, Zeckendorf acquired the Beaux-Arts Singer Tower (1908), briefly the tallest building in the world. His idea was to attract the New York Stock Exchange, which had outgrown its building on Wall Street, to a replacement tower on Singer’s site. His “Wall Street Maneuver,” as he called it, was embodied in Henry Cobb’s 45-story tower, a few blocks north of Wall Street, which contained three quarters as much space as the Empire State Building. The walls sloped inward from the 279-foot-wide trading-floor base to a width of just 89 feet at the top. Cobb, who was part of I.M. Pei’s firm, devised an ingenious tensile steel structure that permitted the floors to hang from rooftop trusses, allowing the enormous trading floor to be entirely free of columns. Zeckendorf claimed he had the backing of the Stock Exchange, but it never materialized. Admitting that his was “a lost cause,” he sold the site to US Steel, which in 1973 opened SOM’s US Steel tower. Ironically, Zuccotti Park, the result of a tradeoff that gave US Steel more height and greater floor space, became the focus of the Occupy Wall Street movement 38 years AD& A Museum later. Henry Cobb Port Holiday, Smith and Williams, Lake Mead, Nevada, 1963 Whitney Smith and Wayne R. Williams helped invent the vocabulary of everyday modern architecture in post-war Los Angeles. In 1963 J. Carlton Adair, a bit-part actor, casino promoter and Las Vegas land speculator who owned swathes of land around Nevada’s Lake Mead, asked Smith and Williams to lend visual panache to his years-long scheme to develop his holdings into a township that he called Port Holiday. Smith and Williams’ rendition of Adair’s dream had it all: a geodesic dome, an aerial tramway and a Modernist version of a castellated chateau. All was infused with the zippy flair that reflected the optimism of early 1960s plans to turn deserts into oases and convert barren land into multimillion acreage. Local and state officials endorsed Adair’s $320 million plan, which involved an artificial lake with 13 miles of shoreline, resort hotels, an eighteen-hole golf course, floating homes and a zoo. Over several years he attracted a series of corporate backers, from Boise Cascade Home & Land Co. to Gulf Oil and General Electric. He overreached himself, however, eventually declaring bankruptcy in 1972, with just $200 in the newly named “Lake Adair” company’s coffers. Adair’s vision was eventually given life, albeit lacking the spirit of Modernism. In 1991 a lake was created, known today as Lake Las Vegas, surrounded by Tuscan stucco luxury homes. Smith and Williams

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 44 No: Playing with your GI Joe wrong never landed anyone in prison. But the “safetyism” doesn’t stop there. In a bid to hide the ugly ideas at the heart of the bill with appeals to emotion, the Trudeau government is cruelly exploiting the deaths of actual teens as cover — the tragic suicides of kids caught up in sextortion schemes and victimized by bullies. It’s unclear why all Canadians should be muzzled in order to punish a few psychopaths, of course. But that was never the real purpose of the law, only the window dressing. The real meaning can be found in Trudeau’s wholesale crackdown on any and all ideological opposition. He froze the assets of Canadian citizens for supporting the trucker protests against his crazy and harmful COVID response. The proposed new law is simply the next logical step in nakedly, directly outlawing criticism of him and his policies. The Online Harms Act is one of those Euro-style civil liberties horror-shows that should make Americans wrap their arms as tightly as they can around their own Constitution. If it passes, a Maple Curtain will descend and stretch across our northern border, from Lubec, Maine, to Cape Flattery. When it comes to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau’s Orwellian Online Harms Act, tech titan Elon Musk gets it: “This sounds insane.” Insane is putting it mildly; look at some of the law’s provisions: l Rewarding people who snitch on their “hateful” neighbors up to $20,000 and making the thought criminals pay up to $50,000. l Allowing the possibility of a literal life sentence for online hate crimes, including speech. l Letting judges, based on snitch testimony, jail people for up to a year because someone thinks they might commit a hate crime. The law would also empower the cops to comb through your old posts — including those made before the law even passed — and punish you. And if social-media companies or other platforms don’t take down your hate speech, they can be fined astronomical sums, up to 6% of gross global revenue. In other words, the law is the end of online speech, period, and a giant step toward ending any public free speech anywhere in Canada. Like so many other authoritarian policies, this one was brought into the daylight in the name of “safety.” Justice Minister Arif Virani, ludicrously, has compared it to product regulations for toys. Mayor Adams and Gov. Hochul just locked down a huge win for the city — but the payoff will be a long time coming. The mayor and governor reached an agreement with Port Authority, a deal that past players like Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg couldn’t swing, to at last make something of the long-fallow Brooklyn Marine Terminal. Development should bring housing, greenspace, shops and more. The 122-acre waterfront site is prime real estate right on the water, but squabbling among city, state and PA leaders blocked deal after deal, while sections of the port fell into disrepair. In exchange for turning the space over to the city, Port Authority will get full control over the Howland Hook Marine Terminal on Staten Island. The space’s revitalization should be a huge boon to Brooklyn (and spruce up Red Hook) — if the city can keep it on track. To kick things off, the city will invest $80 million to repair three piers on the site; the state has promised another $15 million. But the project will cost a lot more: The city has applied for more than $350 million in federal funds, and major development will surely require private investment. Financial hurdles aside, it’s all very early stages: In late spring, a taskforce led by Rep. Dan Goldman will convene with “local elected officials, unions, waterfront stakeholders, Brooklyn businesses, workforce development, the adjacent community, and the maritime industry,” per City Hall, “to develop a shared vision” of what to do with the space. With that many parties involved, there’s a risk of the whole process getting gummed up: Specialinterest vultures circle around big-budget projects like this one, angling to bite off a share. Enough demands, and the whole thing stalls — witness the endless delays in making something of the Bronx Armory. Goldman and the rest of the mayor’s taskforce, including state Sen. Andrew Gounardes and City Councilwoman Alexa Avilés, will need to reject unreasonable asks and keep the project on course. While it will be years before the city starts to see major fruits, all New Yorkers will benefit from the transformation of a dilapidated and inaccessible waterfront space into housing, parks and businesses. Credit savvy, forward-thinking teamwork between City Hall and Albany (a refreshing change of pace!) for the landmark agreement. Kudos to Adams and Hochul for making it happen — and for investing and believing in New York’s future. America’s Oldest Continuously Published Daily Newspaper A B’klyn Waterfront Win Pre-Crime Comes to Canada The New York Post is published by N.Y.P. Holdings Inc. 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036 Chair Lachlan Murdoch Publisher Sean M. Giancola Print Editor-in-Chief Stephen Lynch POSTSCRIPT Editorial Chairman Emeritus Rupert Murdoch Editor-in-Chief Keith Poole Editorial Page Editor Mark Cunningham W E are in a cultural emergency. Future generations are unlikely to value freedom and reason as we do. Regardless of your stance on Israel-Palestine, the campus protests since Oct. 7 have revealed a dark side to our dominant left-liberal ideology, with its emphasis on ‘be kind’ humanitarianism and equal representation. In my book “The Third Awokening: A 12-Point Plan for Rolling Back Progressive Extremism,” I argue that bleeding-heart liberals, not cultural Marxist radicals, are largely responsible for the woke cultural revolution. When the complexity of the world is collapsed into a totalizing black and white morality play pitting the “kind” minority against the unkind majority, the former are romanticized, the latter dehumanized. Whites are mean, “people of color” nice. Progressives who view the world through this lens perceive Jews as white villains, Palestinians as minority victims. These cultural reflexes are especially strong among young Americans, who lack the vestigial patriotism and grounding in free speech that checks progressive extremism among older liberal Americans. Those who content themselves with the comforting belief that we have reached peak woke and will soon return to classical liberalism need to think again. The retreat of senior liberals at The New York Times or Meta from the excesses of cancel culture and the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) agenda cannot halt generational turnover. Woke may not be able to triumph just yet, but, one funeral and one hire at a time, it is on course to prevail. Consider that a Harvard-Harris poll finds nearly half of Zoomers support Hamas over Israel while a Skeptic Research Center survey finds that a similar share believe that “the Israeli government advocates for white supremacy.” Among older people, the share who agree is in low single digits, exposing a massive generational canyon. This youthquake is taking place across the West. I find that British 18-25-yearolds split evenly over whether J.K. Rowling — who thinks a biological male is not a woman — should be dropped by her publisher while fewer than 5% of those over 50 do. Progressive illiberalism may be less fashionable in the boardrooms of 2024 than it was in 2020, but its writ will likely run through them in 2044. We should not lull ourselves into the comforting conceit that the kids will grow out of woke. If the rise of secularism is any indication, the young can readily serve as the shock troops of a new order, leading society toward transformative value change. Detailed analysis of five decades of survey data by Dennis Chong and his California Eric Kaufmann Young UK progressives don’t just disagree with J.K. Rowling on trans issues — some 50% say she should be dropped by her publisher. AP staying College campuses are bearing witness to a rampant closing of the young American mind, with identity-politics-laden social-media feeds fanning the flames as well.

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com45 Post your comments on stories at www.nypost.com E-mail letters@nypost.com, or write to: The Editor, The New York Post, 1211 Avenue of the Americas, NY 10036. Include name, address and daytime phone number. No unverifiable letter will be published. The Post reserves the right to edit all letters. Chatter Overly greedy Overtime is not the only contract issue causing outrageous labor costs bankrupting the MTA that must be renegotiated (“End the MTA’s Overtime Insanity,” Editorial, May 15). The retirement age of 55 must be raised to 68 and retirees and employees must contribute to health-care costs. Private-sector employees who will pay the congestion tax to fund this excess MTA compensation don’t enjoy anything close to these benefits. Municipal unions own the politicians through campaign contributions and political endorsements. These politicians are not pro-labor: They are “pro” a tiny segment of municipal unions that working-family taxpayers must pay for, most recently in the congestion tax. Andrew Feinman, Brooklyn Rudy ruined, again Fans of Rudy Giuliani’s WABC radio show should interpret the suspension of Giuliani as just another manifestation of the gag-order in place against former President Donald Trump (“Rudley, Giuliani!” May 14). WABC owner John Catsimatidis faced some criticism when he first hired the former mayor. Now, if he fires Rudy, Catsimatidis could lose credibility as a supporter of the conservative voices of the United States who today are being drowned out by the loudmouths of the leftist media. What Catsimatidis has failed to recognize is that the talking heads in the left-wing media are not only earning millions of dollars for bashing and trashing Trump every day, but not one of these pundits has been fired for speaking out about the same issues that Giuliani covered. All Rudy really wanted was more air time and more money — and he deserved it. Catsimatidis is naive not to realize that suspending Rudy will be interpreted by his fans as just another silencing of a Trump ally during this crucial time when Trump is facing multiple legal actions. Listeners could use Rudy’s perspective. J. J. Crovatto, Ramsey, NJ Super-sized prices One of the more difficult concepts for some people to appreciate is “there is no such thing as a free lunch” (“McDonald’s is getting rid of free drink refills — and more fast-food chains may follow,” Alex Mitchell” May 14). It logically follows that someone, somewhere, somehow is paying for it. The policy of free drink refills is very often abused by dine-in patrons who believe it’s totally OK to fill a 32, 40 or 64 ounce thermal car mug numerous times to take “for the road.” Vincent Ruggiero, Scottsdale, Ariz. Blushing crimson If there continues to be difficulty in finding a speaker for the annual Class Day event, I am willing to volunteer myself (“Harvard struggling to find speaker for annual Class Day event,” May 11). I have not been involved in human-rights activities for more than 50 years. To the best of my knowledge, my brain has never been infected by a parasitic worm or, if it has been, it has never given me bad advice. Bruce Couchman, Ottawa, Canada Green machine It’s very strange that someone so devoted to the left’s climate agenda would be so quiet about the subject now that he’s running for president (“RFK: Green Extremist,” Post Opinion, Daniel Turner, May 9). A fair election is one where voters know what they’re getting before they choose a candidate. We need to know what he would do should he become president. Young Americans are more ‘woke’ Gary Mottola, Brooklyn than ever, resisting efforts to soften their hearts and expand their minds political-science colleagues shows that young people as recently as the early 2000s were much more tolerant of speech that might offend a sensitive member of a minority group than their Gen-Z counterparts are today. College-educated youth, the leaders of tomorrow, are now more likely than young people with just a high school diploma to believe in moral absolutism, overturning decades of prior research. The belief — especially among young women — that sensitivity to minorities is more important than free speech, truth or merit is likely to be sticky across the life course. Where do they catch these mind viruses? Social media, especially TikTok, is important, but so are the nation’s schools. Research I conducted with Zach Goldberg for the Manhattan Institute on a national sample of 1,500 18-20 year-olds shows that 72% of young people who reported being taught five or more critical race theory (CRT) ideas at school agreed that they sometimes think “White people are racist and mean” because of the way black people have been treated. This is nearly double the level found among youth with no CRT exposure. The share who endorse racial preferences for blacks in hiring and promotion doubles with heavy CRT exposure while the proportion who say the US is built on stolen land spikes from 44- to 73%. Progressive education is transforming the political loyalties of young Americans. Thus a young person with a Republican mother taught no critical race or gender ideas leans 61% Republican, while those with a Republican mother exposed to six or more CSJ ideas in school are just 25% Republican. What can be done to defuse this ticking generational time bomb? GOP leaders must find the stamina to take on the education establishment and win. They need to insist on removing political bias from the classroom while compelling schools to strictly adhere to ideologically-neutral messaging. The crimes of Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot should be brought to life alongside those of Hitler and the Jim Crow regime. When it comes to the culture, we need to win hearts, not just arguments. This effort requires a major reallocation of political capital. Conservative priorities must reorient away from economics and foreign policy toward the reform of cultural institutions. This means state and federal politicians who are weak on these issues or prepared to sacrifice them to vested interests must be primaried out. The hour is late. Only a laserlike focus on reforming schools can avert our slow-motion civilizational train wreck. Eric Kaufmann is professor of politics at the University of Buckingham and author of the new book The Third Awokening: A 12 Point Plan for Rolling Back Progressive Extremism power NY Post photo composite

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 46 POSTSCRIPT Books One Perfect Couple Ruth Ware (Gallery/Scout Press) It’s Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” meets “Love Island.” Five couples are set to compete on a TV reality show in a tropical paradise called “Ever After Island.” But soon after they arrive at their remote, romantic destination, things start to go wrong, and the couples find themselves fighting to survive. Mind Games: A Novel Nora Roberts (St. Martin’s Press) A young woman named Thea has visions that predicted the murder of her parents when she was 12 and helped to send their killer to jail. But the man who destroyed her family is out for revenge — and he has similar psychic gifts. Day Trading Attention Gary Vaynerchuk (Harper Business) The entrepreneur and bestselling author posits that understanding “underpriced attention” on social media is crucial to effectively building a business or following. Tom Clancy Act Of Defiance Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) The 24th Jack Ryan novel finds President Ryan navigating the unexpected launch of Russia’s deadliest submarine. The circumstances are similar to those four decades earlier when Ryan, then a young CIA analyst, successfully dealt with a Soviet sub named Red October. Quanta and Fields: The Biggest Ideas in the Universe Sean Carroll (Dutton) The second book in “The Biggest Ideas in the Universe” series has the professor and “Mindscape” podcast host breaking down quantum physics and other big ideas for a general audience. What a Fool Believes Michael McDonald and Paul Reiser (Dey Street Books) The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan keyboardist and vocalist shares his journey from Missouri high school dropout to Rock ‘n’ Roll hall of famer. His buddy, actor-comedian Paul Reiser, comes along for the ride. REQUIRED READING by Hailey Eber by Max Gross I HAVE a confession to make: I like Bill Maher. Kind of a lot. For a long time I resisted putting this in writing, or saying it out loud. (My wife, for one, can’t stand him and proceeds to remind me of this whenever his name comes up.) It’s not that I disagreed with the majority of Maher’s political opinions, but there was also a part of me that recognized that he was a little glib . . . a little too pleased with himself . . . a little condescending to those he viewed as stupid. Which was everybody. And yet every Friday night I find myself staying awake to watch his HBO show, “Real Time.” His new book, “What This Comedian Said Will Shock You” (Simon & Schuster, $30), is a compilation of Maher’s “New Rules” monologues over the last few years (although it’s recent enough that he has a couple of commentaries on Israel’s war in Gaza). For fans, the book is a welcome reminder of Maher's funniness, his intelligence, his sanity — as well as the smugness and self-regard that rub so many people the wrong way. The book’s publisher describes “New Rules” as Maher’s weekly “sermon” — and I wasn’t sure whether this was meant ironically. (I think so.) Because Maher’s contempt for religion is one of his few opinions that has remained largely unchanged since he started at HBO two-plus decades ago. (Maher was raised Catholic but has described himself as agnostic, atheist and even “apatheist” over the years). Still, putting Maher’s book in ecclesiastical tones wouldn’t entirely be a mischaracterization. For the last 10 minutes of every show he looks straight into the camera and he talks, almost prophetically — about Republicans, Democrats, college students, the environment, cellphones, health care, pot, cancel culture, Facebook . . . The list goes on and on. M aher’s observations are often as cutting as they’re wellwritten — in describing the oversensitivity of Gen Z he employs the term “emotional hemophiliacs.” Likewise, Paris Hilton is “the face that launched a thousand little s--ts.” These sermons, if that’s what they are, come from a place of wit and education and work well bundled together as a book. What’s unusual about Maher is that before these sermons — which are delivered with the moral poise and conviction of a minister who knows his opponents are hellbound — is that they stand somewhat in contrast to the rest of the show, where Maher is surprisingly openminded and willing to entertain guests he loathes and mercilessly ridicules. Maher has spent many years taunting the junior senator from Texas on his show saying things like: “Ted Cruz is immune to insults because he has learned to live in a world where everyone, everywhere has always hated him. Vaudevillians used to say they were born in a trunk — Ted was born stuffed in a locker.” But he was willing to book Cruz as a guest on “Real Time” and sparred with him civilly. O ne sees the tension between the glib, smart-ass comedian and the reasonable opinionista play out in the pages of his book. At “Trump rallies . . . liberals are described as weak, lame, coddling, over-sensitive and limp-dicked,” Maher writes. “Which are strong words coming from a bunch of mouth breathers, s--tkickers, knuckle draggers, Bible thumpers, sister f--kers and rubes.” Ouch. And then the very next paragraph: “Yes, I’ve been guilty of saying things like that, but I’m going to try to stop . . . Telling people you think they’re irredeemable and of rights A new book by the notoriously opinionated Maher reveals the comic’s canny ability to sermonize audiences while still keeping a sense of humor Tracing the roots of Gen-Z narcissism, Bill Maher calls socialite heiress Paris Hilton “the face that launched a thousand little s--ts.” Getty Images for Tan-Luxe

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com47 deplorable is what makes them say, ‘You know what? I’d rather side with Russia than you.’ ” Which would be an admirable sentiment if he didn’t fail so often in this respect. “I used to say our elections went on far too long,” Maher writes, “but you know what? No. Americans are dumb; they need the extra time.” I n recent years, Maher might have shown a greater willingness to give a hearing to conservatives than he is to progressives. In the old days his contempt for conservatives (particularly George W. Bush and Dick Cheney) was bottomless, and he’s certainly not shy in his loathing for Donald Trump. As the left grew more dour and humorless, Maher has come to turn his ridicule on them. (Something he happily cops to here.) And as a somnolent member of the Democratic Party, readers like this one are glad someone on my side says it as well as Maher does. “Several universities in recent years have . . . compiled lists of terms we should be warned about or get rid of altogether including . . . ‘Virgin,’ ” Maher writes. “ ‘Virgin’? We can’t say ‘virgin’? As opposed to what — ‘person experiencing not getting laid’?” To both sides, Maher is standing athwart history, yelling, “Get over yourselves.” None of which is to say that Maher’s book will win him converts, or that he doesn’t succumb to the impulse to dismiss those who don’t agree with him. (See examples above.) And Maher isn’t above the Catskills comedy of yesteryear. “If there’s one place God shouldn’t be, it’s on money,” he writes. “Why? Because one is a supreme, all-powerful entity that Americans worship above all else. And the other is God.” Ah, he was talking about money! It’s a setup that Maher favors a lot in his comedy (so much so that I was waiting for it in his book and I’m grateful he only does it once), but this is largely a throwback from a comic who came of age when the comedians at the clubs were a lot shtickier, and it didn’t induce quite so big an eyeroll. F or some of us, this is one of the reasons we like him. I happen to admire a cheap knee-slapper. And, shared political opinions aside, that’s the best reason to read this book: Maher is funny. His assessment of himself as a comedian vs. an opinion maker has long been a needle that he has (perhaps hopelessly) tried to thread. But, in the end, he’s not asking for your vote, or anything else. It’s why accusations of glibness are besides the point when it comes to Maher. Is he self satisfied and dismissive? Sure. But this has the benefit of intellectual clarity. Maher is right that not all points of view are equally valid. Some arguments are a lot more serious than others. So many of the shibboleths of modern American culture are — not to put too fine a point on it — ridiculous. And he’s willing to say it here. “The people who can’t take a joke now aren’t old ladies in the Bible Belt,” he writes, “they’re Gen Z at elite colleges. Colleges, where comedy goes to die. Kids used to go to college and lose their virginity — now they go and lose their sense of humor.” All of which might be true — and even though this is not the kind of statement intended to persuade anyone of anything, there’s nothing wrong with that. Maher has roundly declared his first and foremost allegiance to comedy, and part of the job description is to point at the latest mass piety and say: “You’re full of it.” Bill Maher’s weekly “sermons” on “Real Time” — his publisher’s coinage — are the genesis for his raucous new book (below). Real Time with Bill Maher/YouTube Bill Maher has taken a fair share of shots at Sen. Ted Cruz (RTexas) over the years, while also engaging the pol he calls “immune to insults” in a good-natured debate on “Real Time.” Little Billy Maher (right) was raised a Catholic in New Jersey, but has since declared himself agnostic, atheist and even “apatheist.” Bill Maher/Facebook The people who can’t take a joke now aren’t old ladies in the Bible Belt — they’re Gen Z at elite colleges. — Bill Maher

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 48 POSTSCRIPT Books by Todd Farley N OTHING was too much for Tu Lam. In the late 1970s, Tu struggled as a Vietnamese refugee living outside Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, NC. In school he was bullied for wearing tattered clothing that smelled “like fish.” Teachers assigned him to the back of the classroom and bus drivers to the back of the bus. In the streets he was called “chink,” spit on and told to go back to Vietnam. But Lam’s mother and aunt both married Green Berets, and those men helped eventually turn Tu into a decorated war hero, video game inspiration and successful businessman. It started with a single question. One morning, Tu’s uncle acknowledged his nephew’s troubles but implied they could be overcome. “Do you want to be a f--king commando today?” the Green Beret asked. “Yes, I wanted to be a f--king commando,” Lam writes in “The Way of Ronin: Defying the Odds on Battlefields, in Business and in Life” (Hanover Square Press, May 21). After the Vietnam War, starving on a tiny boat floating in the South China Sea when trying to flee, and barely existing at an Indonesian refugee camp, the Lam family wanted to prosper in America. For Tu Lam that meant hard work. In North Carolina his stepfather woke Tu at 4 a.m. each morning, expecting the boy to make his bed, raise the American flag, and run five miles to a nearby lake. Lam initially balked at the routine, but that discipline would stick. At 8 years old he began studying martial arts and US Army “combatives” (fighting techniques). In high school Tu joined the football, wrestling and track teams. If told to run three miles, Tu would run five; told five, he would run eight; told eight, he would run 13, and often, voluntarily, with weighted packs on his back. Tu joined the Army before finishing high school and shipped off to basic training the day of graduation. “It was the end of my life as a refugee. It was the beginning of my life as a soldier.” Tu loved the Army but he faced racism daily, still called “chink” by fellow soldiers — and even his superiors. But Lam persevered. He joined the 82nd Airborne and outperformed his fellow recruits before opting for the more difficult Ranger school. He survived that, too, through “blisters, blood, vomit and all,” sleeping just an hour every night and eating one meal a day. After becoming a Ranger Lam became a Green Beret, too. In a 23-year military career Tu was a weapons specialist, a combat diver, a team leader and a special forces commando. He engaged in operations in Korea, Thailand, Guam and Singapore. Working with Malaysian commandos, Tu once stuck his head through dense jungle underbrush to find himself face to face with a “Malayan tiger," which fortunately ambled away. In Libya he trained rebels to fight Muammar Qaddafi while in South “Get up”— and he did. He told himself to just “dump” all the pills — and he did. He thought he should start a business — and he did, designing military equipment based on his years of experience and expertise. Lam began training SWAT teams, counternarcotics teams, US Marshals, Texas Rangers and police departments. “Weapons, war, tactics — that was my brand.” YouTube and Instagram videos of his classes spread Tu’s name, and soon he began hosting the show “Knife or Death” on the History Channel. Lam’s warrior reputation shined so bright he also inspired and helped design the Ronin character in the popular video-game series “Call of Duty.” But the fame, the wealth, the glory, the medals on his chest, all of it resulted just because young Tu Lam answered one question with an enthusiastic affirmative. “Yes, I wanted to be a f--king commando.” It was Mike Ollis’s final day in Ghazni, Afghanistan. After eight months, the 24-yearold Staten Islander was about to fly out to Bagram, as Tom Sileo details in “I Have Your Back – How An American Soldier Became an International Hero” (St. Martin’s). But as he waited, a truck carrying 3,000lbs of explosives slammed into the walls of Ollis' base, followed by mortars and machine gun fire. As smoke filled the air, Taliban fighters advanced and Ollis, without any armor, returned fire amid the devastation. “Much of the landscape was littered with body parts,” writes Sileo. “It was almost impossible to identify who had been killed or if the remains were even human.” It was then he saw a Polish soldier dressed only in shorts. Caught in the crossfire was Lt. Karol Cierpica, an officer in NATO’s Reconstruction Team. Suddenly, a Taliban fighter wearing a suicide bomb vest charged at Cierpica — and Ollis leapt in the way. “In that split-second moment, the thought most likely filling the mind of Ollis was saving the life of the Polish soldier he only just met,” writes Sileo. Ollis bore the brunt of the blast and despite medical assistance was pronounced dead, just three weeks before his 25th birthday. In many ways Ollis was destined to serve. His father, Bob, was wounded during the Vietnam War and Ollis’s decision was cemented by 9/11, when 274 fellow Staten Islanders died. “Many of Staten Island’s dead were police or firefighters,” writes Sileo. “Their ultimate sacrifice deeply inspired Mike.” Ollis was 17 when he presented his folks with a Parent Consent for Enlistment form. Soon, he toured Iraq where his friend was seriously injured in a bombing. On his first Afghanistan deployment, a suicide bomb killed six colleagues. Ollis rescued 11 but “pulling out bodies had started taking a huge toll on Mike,” writes Sileo. On January 19, 2013, Mike Ollis, now Staff Sergeant, returned to Afghanistan, to join Allied forces in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Ghazni. He never returned. Today, Ollis’s spirit lives on in the SSG Ollis Freedom Foundation and the Staten Island ferry, “SSG Michael H. Ollis,” which entered service in February 2022. Lt. Karol Cierpica, meanwhile, had a son in 2015. He called him Michael. — Gavin Newsham BUZZ BOOK: The highest price Activision; History Channel The wild story of a Vietnamese immigrant whose Green Beret heroism saved lives — and inspired a ‘Call of Duty’ character Africa he provided extra security for President Barack Obama. In Chad, his team fought rebels poaching wildlife to fund terrorist camps. At the same time, Tu kept his promise to his mother to graduate from college. “I had a pistol on my pelvis and a bookbag on my back,” Lam writes. “I typed term papers in grass huts and went to Internet cafes to take exams.” And in Iraq and Afghanistan, Tu Lam went to war. It was gruesome work though. In Iraq, Tu picked through the remains of a US missile strike, pulling blackened corpses around to identify the terrorists killed. He wiped the blood off a dismembered hand and held it to a scanner to check its fingerprints. Then he returned to base, cleaned up, and took a scheduled midterm exam. “War, death, college test. It was just another beautiful day in Iraq.” Tu Lam But Tu Lam’s experiences left him injured, physically and mentally. After more than two decades in the Army he became addicted to pills, painkillers and antidepressants. He was diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries from an IED blast, plus acute anxiety and depression. Tu Lam’s military career was over. That decision devastated Tu, and he retired into a funk of depression and addiction. He spent most days sitting on the couch. But Tu had an unbreakable will, so one day he simply told himself to Ronin from the “Call of Duty” video-game series has a real-life counterpart in Tu Lam (inset, right, in his History Channel reality combat series, “Knife or Death”). Lessons from Ronin

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com49 Very Easy #6,553 Difficult #6,343 2 1 4 7 9 6 9 5 3 1 8 5 9 1 6 9 2 1 8 1 2 3 4 6 8 7 1 6 4 3 4 9 6 5 7 4 4 9 3 5 3 6 1 9 2 8 6 3 5 1 7 7 8 9 4 5 3 3 2 7 9 2 7 1 3 9 5 1 3 8 7 3 2 8 9 7 9 8 5 2 4 5 7 2 7 8 4 9 8 3 Challenging #451 “IV Infusion” By Amanda Cook Across 1 Lullaby opener 5 Brewpub assortment 9 Sacred poem 14 Shore recess 18 In the know about 19 Disney princess and restaurateur 20 Expedition 21 Pt. of EMT 22 10-meter dash? 24 Two trios and a duo 25 Melodic structure of some Indian music 26 Punched metal 27 Nine-digit IDs on some W-9s 28 Nabe near NYU 29 Vinyasa series 31 Game where it’s bad to catch a break? 33 Weekend activity for a group of clairvoyant sommeliers? 36 Presuppose 37 Right now 38 Many a dog agility competition 39 More chill 41 Pet container 43 Stone fruit center 46 Autograph on a rare baseball card? 49 Succulent spot 51 Smidgen 52 Smashes into 53 Chip in? 54 Stop making progress 57 Language of a haka chant 59 Domed recess 61 Pilot’s fig. 62 Prayer candle depicting Taylor Swift as a saint? 66 Ragdoll or tuxedo 69 Durable wood 71 Swell 72 Shows the ropes 74 Get a lift, but not a Lyft 76 Fender blemish 77 Scrooge’s 9-Down 79 A law __ oneself 80 Excusing friends who secretly planned a surprise party? 87 Tense WNBA periods, for short 88 Shadow puppet shapers 89 Bygone big Apples 90 Doily fabric 91 Engages in witty banter 92 Strand at the ski lodge 96 Ranking of recipes from most to least appetizing? 101 Like the Ninja Turtles 102 Mercury, but not zinc 103 Soooo many 104 “Auld Lang __” 105 “Modern Comfort Food” author Garten 106 Alleviate 107 Word with circle and peace 109 Turf damage caused by a raucous Czech band? 112 Word before a Mass exodus? 113 “Frozen” sauna owner 114 Winter of “Modern Family” 115 Parisian papa 116 Photoreceptor cells 117 Tree houses 118 Subway Series side 119 Yemeni port Down 1 Drink that may be sweetened with honey 2 Strips of gear, as a ship 3 Beekeeper booboos 4 Ride-sharing lane: Abbr. 5 Ceramics ovens 6 Corn units 7 Serengeti antelope 8 Japanese honorific 9 “Drat!” 10 Satirist Baron Cohen 11 __ Martin: British sports car 12 5G precursor 13 Info about info 14 Skin care brand 15 Yemeni neighbor 16 Like Gardein products 17 Wipe clean 19 Curtain danglers 23 Chemical relative 28 Consume greedily 30 Guard dog’s incitement 32 Din 33 Amazed 34 Logical prefix 35 Dribs partner 37 “L’Shana __”: Rosh Hashanah greeting 40 Like a Christmas tree at night 41 One-named flamenco guitarist 42 Transfer payment 43 Holiday garland embellishment 44 Defensive take, for short? 45 Ballerina’s pivot point 46 Crashes 47 Treasure __ 48 __-relief 49 Break room? 50 Queasy 55 Green Power Partnership org. 56 Just peachy 57 Mediterranean island country 58 2022 World Cup winner: Abbr. 59 Pennsylvania in D.C. 60 Back-to-school purchase 63 Pipe trap 64 Important organs for a flutist 65 “Sounds good, man” 67 Oil production? 68 Chinese kitchen general 70 Unit of work 73 University of Arizona city 74 ET’s ride 75 Captcha target 76 Greasy spoon 77 Lay on, as a horn 78 MLB postseason semifinal 81 “__ a dream ... ” 82 Time off 83 Bite playfully 84 British barrister Clooney 85 North London soccer club 86 “It’s already taken care of” 90 Goods with a dedicated closet 91 Looks down on 93 Didn’t enforce 94 Pretend not to notice, maybe 95 Declutter 96 Pointy fishing tool 97 Memorable Texas landmark 98 Zapped surgically 99 Subway Series side, familiarly 100 Wintry rain 101 Wee ones 104 Skirt feature 108 Glasgow no-go 109 Actress Dawber 110 Mine find 111 Hoppy brew letters Post SU DOKU You must put a number, from 1 to 9, in each empty box. Each number must appear once in each horizontal row, as well as in each vertical column and in each of the 3-by-3 grids. Super Su Doku, inside, multiplies the challenge — and your enjoyment. For that one, put a number from 1 to 12 in each empty box, making sure each number appears once in each horizontal row, as well as in each vertical column and in each of the 3- by-4 grids. Tips and in-depth strategies at www.SudokuWiki.org. For more Su Doku puzzles, see tomorrow’s New York Post. © Syndicated Puzzles Inc. All Sunday puzzle answers on Page 58 © 2020 Tribune Media Services Celebrity Pics of the Week / TV / Horoscope / Puzzles Sunday Break

New York Post, Sunday, May 19, 2024 nypost.com 50 Black to play and win. L. Ftacnik- D. Wagner Bundesliga 2024 Last week: 1 Bc5+! Qxc5 2 Nxe6+! fxe6 3 Qf6+ Kd8 4 Qxg8+ Kc7 5 Qxh7+. 1 e4...................... c5 2 Nf3.................... e6 3 d4 ................. cxd4 4 Nxd4...............Nc6 5 Nc3 .................Qc7 6 Be3 ................... a6 7 Bd3 ...................b5 8 Nxc6 .............Qxc6 9 Qd2.................Bb7 10 O-O-O.............b4 11 Ne2............... Nf6 12 f3 ..................Bc5 13 Kb1 .................d6 14 h4................. Nd7 15 h5.................... h6 16 c3.................... a5 17 Nd4.............. Qb6 18 Bb5 ...............Rd8 19 Rh3 ............. bxc3 20 Qxc3 .............Ke7 21 a4..................Ne5 22 Rg3 .............Rhg8 23 Ka1 ...............Rc8 24 f4 ..............Bxd4? 25 Bxd4!..........Rxc3 26 Rxc3! .....Resigns SICILIAN DEFENSE Bundesliga 2024 Nodirbek Abdusattorov Gata Kamsky “Here’s the deal, my boy,” the Ethiopian King Cepheus told the young hero Perseus. “Make six spades in this deal and marry my daughter, the fair Andromeda. Fail and we feed you to that sea monster, Cetus, we’ve had problems with. You see, Queen Cassiopeia was vain enough to compare her beauty to the Nereids, and Poseidon got quite upset. “West leads the eight of diamonds.” Perseus surveyed the layout. He saw 10 sure tricks: five trumps, three hearts and the minor-suit aces. No doubt the cards lay badly: the missing hearts didn’t break evenly, and both minor-suit kings were wrong. Perseus took the ace of diamonds and ruffed a diamond with the ace of trumps, preparing to reverse the dummy. He led a trump to dummy’s eight, ruffed a diamond high and led a trump to the nine, relieved to see East-West follow suit. He ruffed the last diamond, returned to dummy with the queen of hearts and drew the missing trump with the jack. Perseus next took the A-K of hearts. When West discarded, Perseus exited with his fourth heart, and East had to lead a club from his king, conceding the 12th trick. Other winning lines of play were possible -- even if declarer just drew trumps, East would be in trouble for discards -- but Perseus’s line was elegant. “Not bad,” Cepheus admitted. “By the way, I forgot to mention that at the moment, Andromeda is chained to a rock down by the coast. The oracle said we must sacrifice her to Cetus to save the situation. So what’s your track record against sea monsters?” South dealer N-S vulnerable NORTH ♠ J 9 8 ♥ Q 7 4 ♦ A Q 10 4 ♣ A Q 4 WEST EAST ♠ 6 3 2 ♠ 7 4 ♥ 10 2 ♥ J 9 6 5 ♦ 8 7 6 5 ♦ K J 9 3 ♣ J 9 8 7 ♣ K 6 2 SOUTH ♠ A K Q 10 5 ♥ A K 8 3 ♦ 2 ♣ 10 5 3 South West North East 1 ♠ Pass 3 NT Pass 4 ♥ Pass 4 ♠ Pass 6 ♠ All Pass Opening lead — ♦ 8 ©2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC When the two top teams of the Bundesliga squared off earlier this year, 19-year-old Vincent Keymer stood out. The reason? He is a German – the only one among the 20 players in the match for supremacy of German chess. The league, which has the same name as Germany’s premier soccer competition, has become a magnet for the chess world’s well-paid hired guns. Perennial champion BadenBaden fielded a team in the key match that included: Viswanathan Anand of India, Hungarian-Rumanian Richard Rapport and ArmenianAmerican Levon Aronian. They lost to a Vernheim team that included Hikaru Nakamura of the United States, Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan, JanKrzysztof Duda of Poland and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan. From the word or phrase above, form at least 19 five-letter words, without using more than one form of the same word. For example, drink or drank, not both. Sunday COMMONALITY Word Force Lie of the Deutschland By Andy Soltis Chess © Andrew Stuart, Syndicated Puzzles #451 5 20 7 16 20 9 29 19 22 24 27 23 5 10 8 4 21 14 26 29 10 13 17 14 8 12 17 4 24 11 21 8 17 5 24 11 14 21 19 21 8 Place 1 to 9 in each white cell. To choose the right number, you need to work from the clues in around the edge. The numbers below the diagonal lines are the sums of the solutions in the white cells immediately beneath. The numbers above the divide are the sums of the solutions immediately to the right. Rows and columns do NOT have to be unique. All Sunday puzzle answers are on Page 58 Kakuro Bridge Each row and each column must contain the numbers 1 through 4 (easy) or 1 through 6 (challenging) without repeating. The numbers within the heavily outlined boxes, called cages, must combine using the given operation (in any order) to produce the target numbers in the top-left corners. Freebies: Fill in single-box cages with the number in the top-left corner. KENKEN