THE QUEENS NEW YORKER

Keith Theodore Olbermann[2] (born January 27, 1959) is an American sports and liberal political commentator and writer. Olbermann spent the first 20 years of his career in sports journalism. He was a sports correspondent for CNN and for local TV and radio stations in the 1980s, winning the Best Sportscaster award from the California Associated Press three times. He co-hosted ESPN's SportsCenter from 1992 to 1997. From 1998 to 2001, he was a producer and anchor for Fox Sports Net and a host for Fox Sports' coverage of Major League Baseball.

From March 2003 to January 2011, Olbermann hosted the weeknight political commentary program Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. He received attention for his pointed criticism of American conservative and right-wing politicians and public figures.[3][4][5][6][7] From 2011 to March 30, 2012, Olbermann was the chief news officer of the Current TV network and the host of a Current TV program also called Countdown with Keith Olbermann.[8][9] From July 2013 until July 2015 he hosted a late-afternoon show on ESPN2 and TSN2 called Olbermann,[10] as well as TBS's Major League Baseball postseason coverage. From September 2016 until November 2017, he hosted a web series for GQ, titled The Closer with Keith Olbermann, covering the 2016 U.S. presidential election, later renamed The Resistance with Keith Olbermann after the victory of Donald Trump.[11]

In January 2018, Olbermann returned to ESPN's SportsCenter program, expanding in May to some baseball play-by-play work. On October 6, 2020, he again resigned from ESPN to start a political commentary program on his YouTube channel.[12][13] On August 1, 2022, Olbermann relaunched Countdown with Keith Olbermann as a daily podcast with iHeartRadio.[14] It is described as a news-driven show featuring his trademark political analysis and "The Worst Persons in the World" segment.

Phillip John Donahue (December 21, 1935 – August 18, 2024) was an American media personality, writer, film producer, and the creator and host of The Phil Donahue Show. The television program, later known simply as Donahue, was the first popular talk show to feature a format that included audience participation.[1] The show had a 29-year run on national television that began in Dayton, Ohio, in 1967 and ended in New York City in 1996.

Donahue's shows often focused on issues that divide liberals and conservatives in the United States, such as abortion, consumer protection, civil rights, and war issues. His most frequent guest was Ralph Nader, for whom Donahue campaigned in 2000.[2] Donahue also briefly hosted a talk show on MSNBC from July 2002 to February 2003. Donahue was one of the most influential talk show hosts and was often referred to as the "king of daytime talk".[3] Oprah Winfrey has said, "If it weren't for Phil Donahue, there would never have been an Oprah Show."[3] In 1996, Donahue was ranked No. 42 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.[4]

PICTURE: By jbach - Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3588872

Fort Amsterdam (later Fort George, among other names) was a fortification on the southern tip of Manhattan Island at the confluence of the Hudson and East rivers in what is now New York City. The fort and the island were the center of trade and the administrative headquarters for the Dutch rule of the colony of New Netherland and thereafter British rule of the Province of New York. The fort was the nucleus of the settlement on the island which was at first named New Amsterdam and is central to New York's early history.

Before the fort was constructed, it was the scene where the purchase of Manhattan Island occurred. In its subsequent history, the fort was known under various names such as Fort James, Fort Willem Hendrick and its anglicized Fort William Henry, Fort Anne, and Fort George. The fort changed hands eight times in various battles, the first episode involving Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant, who surrendered the fort to Richard Nicolls of England in 1664. In the 18th century, the fort was at the center of the Stamp Act riots in New York when it was used to store shipments of stamped paper brought over from England, while serving as a safe haven for a number of stamp tax collectors. During the American Revolution, it was involved in the Battle of Brooklyn, when volleys were exchanged between the fort and British emplacements on Governor's Island. After 165 years of service, involving a number of conflicts, the fort was finally torn down in 1790 after the American Revolution. After the fort's demolition, the Government House was constructed on the site as a possible house for the United States President. The site is now occupied by the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, which houses a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian; Bowling Green is nearby.

The construction of the fort marked the official founding date of New York City as recognized by its seal. In October 1683, what would become the first session of the New York legislature convened at the fort. Artillery guns outside the fort overlooking the harbor formed a battery that would later be the namesake of nearby Battery Park.

PICTURE: By New Amsterdam created by surveyor Jacques Cortelyou in 1660.Images is a detail of File:Castelloplan.jpg, obtained from the New York Historical Society - https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=20275, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=134734190

Joan Shawlee (née Fulton;[2] March 5, 1926[3] – March 22, 1987) was an American film and television actress. She is known for her recurring role as Fiona "Pickles" Sorrell in The Dick Van Dyke Show, a career-defining turn in Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot (1959) playing Sweet Sue, the abrasive martinet in charge of Marilyn Monroe's all-girl jazz band, and as the flamboyant Madame Pompey in the 1957 Maverick episode "Stampede" with James Garner. She was sometimes credited under her birth name.PICTURE: By Studio Publicity - [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=101330890

New Netherland (Dutch: Nieuw-Nederland) was the 17th century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the northeastern coast of North America. The claimed territory was the land from the Delmarva Peninsula to southern Cape Cod. The settled areas are now part of the Mid-Atlantic states of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware, with small outposts in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Its capital of New Amsterdam was located at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan on the Upper New York Bay.

The region was initially explored in 1609 by Henry Hudson on an expedition for the Dutch East India Company. It was later surveyed and charted, and was given its name in 1614. The Dutch named the three main rivers of the province the Zuyd Rivier, 'South River' (now the Delaware River), the Noort Rivier, 'North River' (now the Hudson River), and the Versche Rivier, 'Fresh River' (now the Connecticut River). They intended to use them to gain access to the interior, the indigenous population, and the lucrative fur trade.

International law required discovery, charting, and settlement to perfect a territorial claim. Large scale settlement was rejected in favor of a formula that was working in Asia of establishing factories (trading posts with a military presence and a small support community). This period is sometimes referred to as the Dutch Golden Age, despite on-going wars on the European continent, and it was difficult to recruit people to leave the economic boom and cultural vibrancy of Europe. Mismanagement and under-funding by the Dutch West India Company (WIC) hindered early settlement, as well as misunderstandings and armed conflict with Indians. Liberalization of trade, a degree of self-rule, and the loss of Dutch Brazil led to exponential growth in the 1650s. Transfers of power from the Netherlands to England were peaceful in the province, the last one formalized in 1674.

PICTURE: By Red4tribe at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13396514

Juan Rodriguez[1][2][3] (Dutch: Jan Rodrigues, Portuguese: João Rodrigues) was the first documented non-indigenous inhabitant to live on Manhattan Island.[4] As such, he is considered the first non-native resident of what would eventually become New York City.

As he was born in the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, the first colony of Spain, to a Portuguese sailor and a West African woman, he is considered by many to be the first person of European and/or West African origin to settle on the island of Manhattan.

PICTURE: Courtesy of Daily Mail UK

Alyssa Jayne Milano (born December 19, 1972) is an American actress, singer and activist. She has played Samantha Micelli in Who's the Boss? (1984–1992), Jennifer Mancini in Melrose Place (1997–1998), Phoebe Halliwell in Charmed (1998–2006), Billie Cunningham in My Name Is Earl (2007–2008), Savannah "Savi" Davis in Mistresses (2013–2014), Renata Murphy in Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later (2017), and Coralee Armstrong in Insatiable (2018–2019). As an activist, Milano is known for her role in the #MeToo movement in October 2017. She was the replacement of the role of Roxie Hart, and did her own singing in Chicago.PICTURE: By Bryan Berlin - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=176540177

The Cèllere Codex (officially, Del Viaggio del Verrazzano Nobile Fiorentino al Servizio di Francesco I, Ri de Francia, fatto nel 1524 all'America Settentrionale, also Morgan MS. MA. 776)[1] is one of three surviving copies of a manuscript letter sent by Giovanni da Verrazzano (1481–1528) in 1524 to King Francis I of France describing the former's navigation of the East Coast of the United States. It is nowadays preserved at the Morgan Library of New York.

Verrazzano was an Italian who lived in France, and he undertook his voyage in Francis' service. The King, prompted by the French mercantile community, charged Verrazzano to discover whether there was a direct passage from the Atlantic to China and Japan.

The Codex is considered by scholars to be the most important of the three copies, although there is debate as to how much weight should be given to some of the detail it provides. Over twelve pages, the Codex describes how Verrazzano sailed due west from Madeira in December 1523, and in little more than a month had arrived at North Carolina. From there they journeyed south, towards Florida. This direction was not without danger, as Florida represented the northerly point of the Spanish Empire, and Spanish warships patrolled the sea.[note 1] Verrazzano then turned northwards again and, hugging the coast, passed Virginia, New Jersey, and eventually New York, where he anchored in what is now New York Harbor. He then continued north around New England, to Newfoundland, where, with provisions running low, he turned eastwards. Verrazzano and crew returned to Dieppe in July 1524. The Codex describes Verrazzano's journey in a far greater degree of detail than the other versions of his letter, which may be because it was originally transcribed by Verrazzano's brother, and then further annotated by Verrazzano himself. It was sent via a series of letters to colleagues of Verrazzano in France and then to Italy, where it then remained undiscovered in a Viterbo library until the early twentieth century. Until its discovery there had been some doubt as to whether Verrazzano had ever made the voyage at all.

PICTURE: By Allegrini, Francesco (1729-17..). Graveur ; Zocchi, Giuseppe (1711-1767). Peintre - https://archive.org/download/verrazanoexplore00deco/verrazanoexplore00deco_orig_jp2.tar, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=625293

The history of New York City has been influenced by the prehistoric geological formation during the last glacial period of the territory that is today New York City. The area was shortly inhabited by the Lenape; after initial European exploration in the 17th century, the Dutch established New Amsterdam in 1624. In 1664, the British conquered the area and renamed it "New York"PICTURE: By sometimes attributed to Johannes Vingboons - Image of map at Library of Congress ([1])., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2010040

John Ventimiglia (/vɛntɪˈmiːljə/, Italian: [ventiˈmiʎʎa]; born July 17, 1963)[1] is an American actor. He portrayed Artie Bucco in the HBO television series The Sopranos and had a recurring role as Dino Arbogast, an Organized Crime Control Bureau Chief for the NYPD, on the American police procedural/drama series Blue Bloods on CBS.PICTURE: By Greg2600 - John Ventimiglia, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=91062858