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MILESTONES: June 28, birthdays for John Cusack, Mel Brooks, Kathy Bates

Brooklyn Today

June 28, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Actor John Cusack celebrates his birthday today. AP Photo by Michael Sohn

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 178th day of the year.

Notable people born on this day include Elon Musk and Mel Brooks, among others.

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ON THIS DAY IN 1925, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published a front-page article titled “Man Slain, $5,000 Taken in 2 Holdups.”

The article focused on the holdup of the pay car of the Brooklyn-based Rothenthal Engineering and Constructing Company.

“The robbers snatched a black bag containing the money and jumped back into their car, in which were four other men. They fled east on 165th Street to Broadway and then turned south,” the Eagle reported.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include Oscar Award-winning actress KATHY BATES, who was born in 1948; baseball manager DON BAYLOR, who was born in 1949; actress DANIELLE BRISEBOIS, who was born in Brooklyn in 1969; actor and director MEL BROOKS, who was born in Brooklyn in 1928; actor JOHN CUSACK, who was born in 1966; actor BRUCE DAVISON, who was born in 1946; football executive and former player JOHN ELWAY, who was born in 1960; sportscaster and former baseball player MARK GRACE, who was born in 1964; opera singer THOMAS HAMPSON, who was born in 1955; actress ALICE KRIGE, who was born in 1954; actress MARY STUART MASTERSON, who was born in 1966; and entrepreneur and inventor ELON MUSK, who was born in 1971.

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THE STONEWALL RIOTS OCCURRED ON THIS DAY IN 1969. Early in the morning of June 28, the clientele of New York City’s Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, rioted after the club was raided by police. The riot was followed by several days of demonstrations. This event is now recognized as the start of the gay liberation movement.

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JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1712. The Swiss philosopher is best known for his work “The Social Contract,” in which he argues that a person’s moral and/or political obligations depend upon an agreement among them to form the society in which they live. Rousseau died in France in 1778.

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MARIA GOEPPERT MAYER WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1906. As a participant in the Manhattan Project, she worked on the separation of uranium isotopes for the atomic bomb. Mayer became the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize when she shared the 1963 prize for physics with J. Hans Daniel Jensen and Eugene P. Wigner for their explanation of the atomic nucleus, known as the nuclear shell theory. Mayer died in 1972 in California.

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THE BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY (BHS) WILL HOST “WHO IS MUSLIM?” tonight at 6:30 p.m. With immigration from Muslim-majority countries dominating U.S. news, the narrative of who is Muslim in America has become increasingly fraught. Led by NYU Chaplain Imam Khalid Latif, a panel of Muslim men and women living in America will challenge stereotypes, highlight alternative narratives and share their hopes for America’s evolution. Bim Adewunmi, senior culture writer for Buzzfeed News; Moustafa Bayoumi, author of the critically acclaimed “How Does it Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America”; Ramzi Kassem, director of the Immigrant & Non-Citizen Rights Clinic at CUNY School of Law and consultant to “Homeland” Season 6; and Nzinga Knight, award-winning designer of high-end, modest clothing, will discuss the topic. For more information, visit brooklynhistory.org.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

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“Take the course opposite to custom and you will almost always do well.” — philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who was born on this day in 1712