The 2012 murder season in New York City started with a bang yesterday. After a violent New Year's Eve the NYPD says 45-year-old Andrew Brown, found dead in his Brooklyn apartment building's hallway before the new year saw its first noon, is the first murder victim of the new year. more ›

A last minute, New Year's Eve reminder to those of you who insist on making resolutions for the New Year: Make them achievable. We offered some suggestions on Wednesday, taking some inspiration from Woody Guthrie's list of resolutions for 1943 (as seen above), which include "Stay Glad" and "Take A Bath." more ›

Remember the days when New York City was trying to drum up enthusiasm for bringing the 2012 Olympics here, and Mayor Bloomberg tried to get the West Side Stadium passed to sweeten NYC's bid (the bid had athletes walking down Broadway before entering the stadium!)? And then NYC was eliminated quickly from the the bid and it was kind of embarrassing? Well, now Mayor Bloomberg, a bunch of real estate developers and even an NYU urban policy professor say that city is better off without the Olympics, because the failed plan still jumpstarted lots of development on the Far West Side. So lose-win! more ›

It appears that those teenagers running D.C. have continued to avoid making real decisions and blared their Hoobastank a little too loudly for Mayor Bloomberg's taste, so Hizzoner gave a speech at the Center For American Progress this morning to straighten things out. "For too long, Washington has operated on the 'something for nothing' principal," Bloomberg said. "Spending money we don't have seems to be about the only thing the two parties can agree on." His solution for the Budget Supercommittee? Let the Bush tax cuts expire for everyone, close tax loopholes for the financial industry, and end farm and energy subsidies. more ›

Yesterday, Sharon Bialek shared an account of her 1997 meeting with 2012 GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain in which he allegedly grabbed her genitals, pushed her head towards his groin and asked, "You want a job, don't you?" So what's Cain's next logical step in confronting these serious allegations? Get some TV laffs at their expense! more ›

Previous sexual harassment allegations against 2012 GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain have all been shrouded under confidentiality agreements and behind anonymous sources. But earlier today, a former employee of an agency involved with the National Restaurant Association gave a press conference in New York and claimed that Cain sexually assaulted her in 1997 after she asked him to help her find a job. Sharon Bialek alleges that after a dinner in which Cain told her that he "upgraded" her hotel room, he drove her to NRA headquarters, when he "reached over and touched my leg and grabbed my genitals…he then grabbed my head and pushed it towards his crotch...He said, 'You want a job, don't you?'" more ›

In our modern era of political "analysts" who are paid to scream mindless talking points written by D.C. thinktanks on slick TV sets, Glenn Greenwald is a reasoned laser beam, armed with copious citations and his experience as a constitutional and civil rights attorney. Though he's often hailed by the left, his columns are dense and unsparing of Democrats and Republicans alike. Greenwald is a graduate of NYU Law and currently splits his time between New York City and Rio De Janeiro, where he lives with his boyfriend. more ›

Politicians win elections and earn their salaries by promising their constituents things and then explaining later why those promises were broken. This is in the Constitution, or Federalist 35 or something. But what happens to voters when they've been pushed to the very brink of insanity by a corrupt, inane political system and a rotten economy? According to new polling by the ABC News/The Washington Post, we're about to find out in 2012! The data shows it will involve a lot of misery, culminating in a campaign that is "a dramatic shift from the hope-and-change enthusiasm generated by Obama's first run for the White House." more ›

GOP Presidential candidate Herman Cain is currently the subject of an awful "witch hunt." Yes, he may have been accused of sexual harassment by two different women during his tenure at The National Restaurant Association in the late 90s. But Cain has said that he's never sexually harassed anyone, and never came to a "settlement" either. Sure an "agreement," may have been reached to pay one of the women $35,000—a year of her salary—but remember the late 90s, with all its "free love" and "Macarena?" Now, the woman who accused Cain of misconduct and took the severance pay wants to speak out, but is barred from doing so by the terms of her agreement. more ›

Before he began advocating for higher taxes for the poor and middle class, 2012 GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain headed up the National Restaurant Association. Sure, that group may have worked hand in hand to further the interests of the tobacco lobby, but at least Cain didn't do anything actually illegal, just morally reprehensible. But today, Politico reveals that the trade group was forced to settle two different complaints against Cain for "inappropriate behavior." Sounds like someone needs an electric fence around their groin. more ›

We've come to terms with the fact that extremist mustache enthusiast Pastor Terry Jones just will not go away, no matter how many times we say farewell to him. The Koran-burning rabble rouser, who is even despised by the KKK, has continually tried to drum up controversy through attention-grabbing stunts, all of which point to deeply rooted insecurities and an intense emptiness burning through his soul, perpetually pushing him to try to get people to notice him. And his latest ploy? Running for president of the United States of Pleasepayattentiontome. more ›

According to a CBS/New York Times poll, Herman Cain is besting Mitt Romney in the GOP presidential race, 25% to 21%. Cain is hoping to build on his success with this brilliant art house campaign ad released on Sunday night. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] Student loans will account for more than $1 trillion worth of debt this year, amazingly set to surpass credit card debt. But there is a presidential candidate who is brave enough to free you from all this debt by never allowing you to get federal assistance to go to school in the first place: Dr. Ron Paul. "Just think of all this willingness to want to help every student get a college education," Paul said on NBC's Meet the Press. more ›

Besides the absence of baby pigeons, one of life's great mysteries is that in many cases you need to be gainfully employed so that someone else will hire you. No one likes a layabout, especially human resource departments who would rather not see that CRITICAL gap in your LinkedIn profile. But Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer tells the Daily News that such discrimination "is an outrageous bias that has no place in New York," and says he will lobby city council and Albany for a bill banning the practice. more ›

Vice President Joe Biden took time out of his busy Trans-Am polishing, endangered tortoise-hating schedule to give an interview with CNN and tease us all with the prospect of his unadulterated leadership. Replying to a query about whether or not the 69-year-old Gaffe-O-Tron 4000 will run in 2016, Biden said he'd "make up my mind on that later. We'll find out." Shouldn't Obama say the same thing when asked, "Is Biden still on the 2012 ticket?" more ›

Ron Paul, fierce defender of liberty (there are exceptions!) is having a tough time distinguishing himself from the rest of the GOP field before tonight's debate in Las Vegas. So yesterday, Paul released his "bold, ambitious, Plan To Restore America" [pdf] that would eliminate $1 trillion in government spending his first year in office. Man, weren't things great before the Department of Education, the Department of Energy in the late 70s? more ›

Thanks to a pair of straw poll wins and an ingenious "9-9-9 Plan" that is akin to punching the poor and middle class in their faces nine times every nine seconds for the next nine decades, Herman Cain is now giving Mitt a run for his money in the GOP presidential field. This means his positions are getting more scrutiny, including his ideas about foreign policy. Daniel Drenzer over at Foreign Policy takes a look at Cain's website and finds "a total of five paragraphs on 'national security.' That's it." Yes, but historians will soon clamor for these brave, five paragraphs to appear under the bulletproof glass with the Declaration of Independence. more ›

Last night was the 756th GOP debate, and all eight candidates did their best to ensure that Republicans will nominate Mitt Romney. As the Washington Post puts it, the party's base has "turned their attention to the latest candidate to capture their fancy," and that man of the hour is Herman Cain, who saw other candidates criticizing his 9-9-9 plan for tax reform. Jon Huntsman said, "I thought it was the price of a pizza when I first heard about it," and Michele Bachmann noted, "when you take the 9-9-9 plan and you turn it upside down, I think the devil is in the details." We are really typing this: Michele Bachmann is right. more ›

Things are looking up for the Stormin' Mormon: according to various reports, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will endorse Mitt Romney's presidential bid at 3 p.m. Billionaire GOP donors have less than one hour to convince Christie to run unless they throw down a few million to stop Greenwich Mean Time so they can have that custom-made helicopter painted "Jersey Buff." more ›

Just last Sunday, FOX News' Geraldo Rivera had some relatively thoughtful things to say in Zuccotti Park about the Occupy Wall Street protesters gaining momentum. But yesterday, when Giraldo tried to return to the park for a followup, he was shouted down with chants of "FOX News lies!" We would have preferred "Where's Al Capone?!" or "Dig That 'Stache!" more ›

2012 GOP presidential candidates Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich are positive that this whole Occupy Wall Street thing is overblown. This is because they represent all of the everyday millionaire pizza moguls and Tiffany's marketers/serial adulterers who know that these nurses, students, union members and other "people" are just jealous. "Part of it is jealousy…My parents never said that we hope the rich people lose something so that we can get something," Cain said at a joint appearance on Face the Nation, presumably forgetting that time he left a flaming bag of poo on John Schnattner's doorstep. more ›

Are your kids in the next room playing with their Candy Tails? Google "Santorum." You'll notice that the first result is a website that defines the word as, "The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex." This is because sex columnist Dan Savage vowed to repay bigoted failure and GOP Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum eight years ago for the hateful things he says about the gay community, and BOY is it working. Charlie Cook tells the Daily News, "There is nothing that Santorum can do but just try to ignore it." Or he could whine to the media! more ›

Yesterday, Chris Christie confirmed that he was not going to be running for the job of President of the United States (at least not in 2012). But with Christie confirming what he's been saying for ages, where does that leave political pundits? Licking their wounds and reviewing the tape. And luckily, yesterday's press conference had lots of good tape to review! more ›

It's been a long, strange, helicoptery trip, but Chris Christie has chosen life: the New Jersey governor is holding a press conference today at 1 p.m. to announce that he is NOT running for president. "He's not running. Mary Pat and the gov just called tier one [donor] group to say he was out," a source tells Politico. Those tier one donors shouldn't worry, as they can just shift their donations to Mitt Romney. Or they can shovel the cash into a giant pit in the earth, douse it in kerosene, and set it on fire. While both choices will have the same result, the primal urge to bask in the glow of combustion is considerably more exciting than Mitt Romney. more ›

Many economists believe that president Obama's $447 billion jobs bill will help stimulate the economy—albeit not quite as much as the administration is predicting—by bolstering the GDP and creating or keeping at least 275,000 jobs. To pay for the plan, the president has asked the wealthy to dig under their manatee-leather couch cushions and be taxed as much as middle class folk. New York Senator Chuck Schumer thinks this is a bad idea. "The main hangup is not the jobs bill itself," Schumer tells the Daily News, "[Obama] proposed ways of paying for it that are probably not the best way to garner the votes. We're looking for better ways." Schumer then began furiously scratching a stack of Instant Take 5s. more ›

Ten out of ten GOP billionaires agree: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie should run for president. But with just weeks to go before the filing deadlines, and so many "no" answers to mitigate, the governor who is already in the pocket of Big Helicopter has mobilized a group of trusted advisers who are "getting their arms around what's going to be required," a source who obviously hasn't read any of the recent coverage about Christie's weight tells the Times. more ›

Rick Perry's 2012 Shoot 'Em Up Express has slowed significantly thanks to the candidate's poor debate performances and willingness to help illegal immigrants. Now, the Washington Post delves into the collar-tugging details of the former name of Perry's hunting parcel along the Brazos River: "Niggerhead." more ›

This year Chris Christie has gone from constantly denying any interest in running for President in 2012 to flirting with the idea to denying any interest while clearly showing intrest to being actively courted by the GOP. Is America ready for an overweight presidential candidate? We may soon find out! For once non-News Corp. sources are now also saying he's seriously mulling a run while he gives a talking tour around the country. But if he is going to make a bid, he doesn't have much time! more ›