In today's Presidential capitulation triangulation news bulletin, the Obama administration has signaled that it will rethink a law that would require insurance plans offered by Catholic universities and charities to provide women with birth control without charging them. “We’re going to look for a way to move forward that both provides women with the preventative care that they need and respects the prerogatives of religious institutions," David Axelrod told MSNBC yesterday. "To turn it into a kind of political football to take advantage—to try and capitalize that isn't going to make it easier to resolve that issue," Obama For America's football coach said without a hint of irony. more ›

It's a proud day to be an American terror-porn fetishist: an analysis of a DOJ filing by The Atlantic Wire reveals that the Obama administration may be forced to release photos of Osama bin Laden's dead body if "sensitive information" is redacted. The portion of the brief "concedes that there are reasonably segregable, nonexempt portions of the records that are legally required to be disclosed," a former director of the DOJ's Office of Information and Privacy says. Will they still be released "like a wedding album?" more ›

While his first re-election TV commercials start airing in key states today, President Obama will be heading to New York City today to raise a little cash. Among the stops are Spike Lee's Upper East Side townhouse (someone is really excited!) and the Apollo Theater. Which means'll be wreaking traffic havoc on the Upper East Side (lots of street closures) and Harlem (as well as the Triborough Bridge and FDR Drive)—here's his agenda: more ›

The last U.S. soldiers left Iraq ten days ago, as the nine-year, $800 billion-dollar war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives ended quietly. Days later, the country's fragile government threatened to collapse and bombs allegedly detonated by an al-Qaeda affiliated organization killed at least 65 people in Baghdad. Considering the elusiveness of "victory" in the war, the country's enduring turmoil, and the current war in Afghanistan, should there be a parade for the veterans of the Iraq War? more ›

Smelling the blood emanating from Ron Paul's Pamphletgate Redux, Mitt Romney is closing in on the Good Doctor's lead in Iowa one week from the primary. In addition to his $1.1 million ad buy, Romney's bringing out the biggest gun in his arsenal to seal the deal: New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who will be appearing on radio shows and perhaps even at stump speeches. But will that be enough to paper over the fact that Mitt Romney is a cyborg created by a race of lightly salted water crackers from the planet Carrdon, sent here to study and infiltrate the human race? Consider the evidence. 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 ›

A loose coalition of left-leaning groups like Adbusters and Anonymous are beginning their "occupation" of Wall Street today at noon. Their goal is to "see 20,000 people flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades, and occupy Wall Street for a few months." According to the protest's website, a "leaked bulletin from the New York Police Department reveals that they expect at least 5,000" to show up today, and ask participants to being "warm clothing" along with other provisions due to the recent cold snap. Mayor Bloomberg told his eponymous news organization, "People have a right to protest, and if they want to protest, we’ll be happy to make sure they have locations to do it. As long as they do it where other people’s rights are respected, this is the place where people can speak their minds." more ›

The US Postal Service made it clear earlier this week that they were close to shutting down in the face of a $9.2 billion budget deficit and a $5.5 billion payment due on the 30th of this month. But now the Times reports that the Obama administration is proposing covering the gap for an extra three months. An extension? At least that's better than a "bailout," which would be totally unheard of and completely uncalled for. more ›

New York's attorney general, Eric Schneiderman is investigating a sweetheart deal being pushed by Bank of America to settle claims from the toxic mortgages they peddled to investors before the real estate bubble. It's understandable that he'd experience some pressure from the banks involved to just let it slide, but members of President Obama's administration are reportedly badgering Schneiderman to lie down and accept the terms. more ›

We weren't joking when we repeated the fact that Michele Bachmann is a futuristic automaton bent on enslaving mankind in the Lipton mines. But Newsweek seems to have taken a different tact by calling her "The Queen of Rage," with a delightfully demonic photo of her using her ocular gamma rays to give Obama a weird rash from thousands of miles away. Naturally, people are upset by the magazine's cover that is still significantly less offensive than that Princess Di Photoshop job they pulled in June. more ›

After esteemed ratings agency Standard & Poor's lowered the United States' credit rating from AAA to AA+ (and three "Great Job!" stickers down to one) the markets are still taking time to "bottom out," in the words of Alan Greenspan, and Washington and Wall Street find themselves mired in the Kübler-Ross model of the Five Stages of Grief. Grab a bottle of Night Train and cut your last Prozac in half so you can make your journey through America's psyche go a little smoother. more ›

Yesterday FOX News ran a story about how President Obama, instead of creating jobs by abolishing taxes, chose to spend his birthday party on Thursday night just cold being "urban" at a "Hip-Hop BBQ" that included hip-hoppy guests like Jay-Z and…uh, UBS Investment Bank President Robert Wolf. The crowd probably shot dice and took bets on how much Olde English Attorney General Eric Holder could chug before the spinners on Joe Biden's Camaro wound to a halt. But Fox's executive VP of programming Bill Shine told Yahoo News that there is a perfectly logical explanation for the headline: it wasn't their fault. more ›

It's no secret that former NYC mayor and structure that helps people get from Manhattan to Queens Ed Koch is angry at President Obama for suggesting that Israel and Palestine begin negotiations at the 1967 borders. Koch has strongly hinted that he'll endorse GOP candidate Bob Turner over Democrat David Weprin for Anthony Weiner's empty seat in the 9th District to exact a Scott Brownian revenge on Barry. It appears that Koch will do just that: the Daily News reports that Koch will make "an announcement" to the press at 11 a.m. on Monday. "I'll be endorsing [Turner], but you'll have to come to get the reason," Koch told the paper. Et tu, Eddie? more ›

Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York for barely six months, wants Barack Obama to lose reelection in 2012— if you believe GOP consultants interviewed by the New York Post. John McLaughlin, who counts House Minority Whip and uncompromising 48-year-old "Young Gun" Eric Cantor as a client, says that Obama has to lose if Cuomo stands a chance in 2016. You hear that, Governor? Forget a VP deal, just burn every political bridge you have with the national Democratic party in 2012, so they'll want to support you 4 years later. You'll be monogramming your White House towels in no time. more ›

Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of NYC and lifetime mayor of 9/11, is in New Hampshire to consider a 2012 presidential run. He told the AP what he thinks of the current crop of contenders, "These are a lot of qualified people. Do they have a good chance of winning? I don't know the answer to that." more ›

Not only does President Obama manage to kill Osama bin Laden, he also keeps his promises to 9/11 teens who want to meet Justin Bieber. Payton Wall and Madison Robertson, whose fathers died on September 11, 2001 while working at Cantor Fitzgerald, met the pop star on Thursday during his Macy's appearance. Payton told the Post, "It was so cool. I couldn't even believe it," and before the visit, Madison had Tweeted, "@ppaayyttaann obama kept his promise, off to see @justinbieber." more ›

Millionaire author and amateur historian Sarah Palin has quit her "One Nation" bus tour that she started back on Memorial Day for reasons unknown, but it is quite possible that the Famiglia pizza she ate with Donald Trump in Times Square gave her debilitating gas that only a few weeks of R&R in Alaska can cure. Palin had not made the remaining legs of her trip public, but she told reporters that she intended on stopping by South Carolina and Iowa, crucial primary states that stoked the theories that she would run in 2012. Also, South Carolina is home to roadside tourist attraction South of the Border, which is where George Washington signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and got some really cheap fireworks. more ›

Pissed that we're in the midst of an unauthorized war in Libya? Upset that Guantanamo Bay is still open? Think that health care legislation last year was watered down? You can tell President Obama yourself at a series of fundraisers that he's holding in Manhattan on Thursday, but it won't be cheap. A dinner at four-star Upper East Side restaurant Daniel will cost you $35,800 a plate, while tickets to the LGBT Leadership Gala start at $1,250, but a performance of Sister Act to benefit the campaign with the president in attendance is a steal at $250 (you could also spring for the $10,000 VIP seats that include a photo). more ›

There has been little Hope or Change in the position of our country's chief executive with regard to waging war since 2008, as Barack Obama continued to prosecute the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with vigor. With the US involvement in Libya becoming less about mere "democratic aspirations" of the Libyan people and more about how it and other Western nations think Gadhafi must "go and go for good," Congress is calling Barry on his dangerous precedent. A bipartisan group threatens to file a lawsuit against the president and House Speaker John Boehner demands an explanation as to why they haven't been consulted. Even George "We'll Smoke 'Em Out" Bush asked for a vote. For one of his wars, at least. more ›

Sure, some people believe that Osama Bin Laden was shot and killed by Navy SEAL commandos and then dropped into the ocean. These are the same sort of people who believe that Obama was born in Hawaii and deny the fact that Captain Crunch contains microscopic razor blades to cut the roof of your mouth, flooding your bloodstream with addictive "Crunch ions" developed by the Pope's secret lab at Roswell. But one American hero refuses to believe the "reality's" version of events: treasure-hunting explorer Bill Warren, who is planning to travel to the North Arabian Sea to find Bin Laden's corpse and confirm his death once and for all. more ›

After losing $54 billion in the years 2007-2008 under this other president whose name we've already forgotten, Wall Street made a record $61.4 billion in 2009 and another $20 billion in 2010 since President Obama took office. Democrats also seriously diluted any attempts at serious financial reform. Yet none of this makes Obama's task of bleeding Wall Street for campaign contributions any easier. They're still upset that Barry called them "fat cats," which totally came off wrong. Look how cute these Persian longhair kitties are! more ›

The New York State Supreme Court has ruled the Obama condoms are protected speech under the First Amendment. So why is the NYPD arresting political condom vendors like José Andujar? The Post reports that Andujar, whose pitches include "It's the election, erection for your protection" and "It's the ultimate stimulus package for hard times" (what about "Hard as a rock, wrapped in Barack?") was arrested on Friday for selling the condoms in Times Square. If we keep arresting them, who will alert authorities about the next terrorist attack? more ›

You've got to hand it to Barry: while we've been distracted by how he's steered this country in the wrong directions fiscally and socially, he's taken aim for our precious food pyramid, which we've been weaned on since the early '90s. The new version, which will be a plate-shaped symbol, will be unveiled on Thursday by the Department of Agriculture's Center for Nutrition Police and Promotion, and though a spokesman declined to say specifically what was on the plate, one person who has seen it said "it called to mind a painting by the artist Mark Rothko." Well pardon us, but shouldn't this pyramid look more like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting? more ›

President Obama will either be replaced by an Italian-stereotype-loving pizza mogul or the former cyborg governor of Taxachusetts, or maybe if we're really lucky, the guy who called for the impeachment of Bill Clinton while simultaneously banging a woman who wasn't his wife. Who it won't be is New Jersey governor Chris Christie. So why is Barry reportedly digging dirt on the big guy? more ›

It's no surprise that some politicians and wealthy Israel supporters were angered by President Obama's Mideast peace speech yesterday, which called for a Palestinian state based on the borders that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War. But at least nobody's distorting Obama's message with overheated hyperbole to score cheap political points. Take likely GOP candidate Mitt Romney's circumspect reaction: "President Obama has thrown Israel under the bus. He has disrespected Israel and undermined its ability to negotiate peace. He has also violated a first principle of American foreign policy, which is to stand firm by your friends." Romney must have seen the Director's Cut of Obama's address, because we seem to recall him saying, "Our commitment to Israel's security is unshakable." Of course, when it comes to the Middle East, everyone's a critic: more ›

Tears continue to fall with the rain here at Gothamist HQ, after Huckabee announced this weekend that he would not run for the President of Losing to Obama, our favorite f-bomb dropping snake oil gas bag Donald Trump announced today that he too is calling it quits. In a statement at NBC's upfronts today, Trump modestly said that "I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election." True, Trump wasn't polling too hot recently, but on the other hand, he has never been wrong about anything. Ever. more ›

Rep. Peter King told the Daily News that he felt "intense satisfaction" after seeing photos of Osama Bin Laden's corpse taken by Navy SEALs after their raid on bin Laden's Abottabad safehouse. After repeating Senator James Inhofe's description of the brains spilling out of bin Laden's eye socket, King said that the photos themselves were put together "like a wedding album." No word on whether the CIA used those special little scissors to breathe some well-needed whimsy into photographic evidence of the dead terrorist leader. more ›

OMG, guys, O. M. G. Not only did Barack Obama finally take down Osama bin Laden but now, thanks to an off-the-cuff promise he made to the 14-year-old daughter of a 9/11 victim, some lucky young ladies may be able to meet the haircut himself, Justin Bieber. At least that is what the pop star's Twitter is implying! more ›