After ruling yesterday that the Bloomberg administration had a week to turn over a damning report on the state of the city's 911 response system, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron's made a joke at the Bloomberg administration's expense. "This is just a draft," Justice Engoron said of his opinion, an allusion to the city's reasoning for keeping the report under wraps. "I can't reveal it." Today the Post has more intriguing details of the jurist lecturing the city attorneys, in which he compared the mayor to that other guy who just wanted four more years: "Nixon kept claiming executive privilege . . . and the public and the courts didn’t buy it. We are talking about much the same thing.” more ›

One hundred ninety-eight hours of President Richard Nixon's recordings were released by the Nixon Library yesterday, as well as 90,000 pages of documents. The recordings are all from November and December 1972, after his re-election. And, as MSNBC's First Read puts it, Nixon is as "ruthless, cynical" and "profane" as ever!

-- On April 4, 1972, Nixon discusses the press with Haldeman: more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., HBO) A look at America's favorite insult comic and last surviving member of the “Rat Pack”, the octogenarian Don Rickles from director John Landis. Everyone from Chris Rock to Bob Newhart to Clint Eastwood to Sidney Poitier talk about the comic. 1968 (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., History Channel) 1968 was a turbulent and tragic year and Tom Brokaw not... more ›

Former District Attorney Arthur Branch - a.k.a. former Senator Fred Thompson - came back to New York City to speak at a NY State Conservative Party event. He made clear he's really conservative, saying, "Some think the way to beat the Democrats next year is to be more like them. I could not disagree more. My friends, I suggest it's not time for psychological flexibilities in terms of our principles. That's the surefire way of making sure we don't win." more ›

Just when we thought Roger Stone, the GOP operative accused of leaving a menacing voicemail for Governor Spitzer's father, couldn't be more amusing, he outdoes himself. Stone's assistant sent The Politicker's Azi Paybarah some photographs of Stone, supposedly "taken at The Ink Monkey tattoo shop in Venice Beach, California" where he was "getting a tattoo on his back of Richard Nixon’s face." Really. more ›

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. more ›

Last night, Rudy Giuliani appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. It took about 2 minutes for Rudy to invoke September 11. Until someone uploads the whole segment on YouTube, we've only got Giuliani's thoughts on Iraq, which prompted applause from the audience. And made us wonder how many Late Show attendees are out of towners. Anyway, it was a very welcoming stage for Giuliani (as it is with many candidates on the campaign trail), as Letterman basically let Giuliani give a stump speech. Here's the AP's transcript of Giuliani's thoughts on rising gas prices:

The situation in the Middle East has something to do with it, the fact that we don't have enough refineries has something to do with it," said Guiliani. "There's sort of a bottleneck that occurs – even if we find more oil, it's going to be tough to get it to where it needs to go because we haven't built a refinery in 20, 25 years, 30 years." more ›

"Some Time in New York City" was released in 1972 as John Lennon's third post-Beatles album (and his fifth with Yoko Ono). Critically and commercially the album didn't do well, especially compared to Lennon's previous albums. "Imagine" had just come out in the 1971, and comparatively this one was brash, loud and more reflective of his political and new geographical surroundings at the time, in Greenwich Village. more ›

Andy Borowitz's talent transcends mediums. He's conquered TV with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the Internet with The Borowitz Report, the stage with his stand up and regular host of The Moth, a story telling series, and books with his tomes The Republican Playbook and Who Moved My Soap: The CEO's Guide to Surviving in Prison. What's next for this master of humor: the future! more ›

Let us be the first to wish you a happy President’s Day, assuming your loved ones or roommates haven’t beaten us to it. Just on the heels of Valentine’s Day, this holiday comes as a welcomed treat with no responsibilities of gift buying, cooking or convincing yourself that you’re “just picky”. Not to mention a day off to catch up on important tasks like beating your high score at Wii Bowling (current record: 152) or watching those NetFlix that have been patiently waiting for you, collecting dust on your TV stand. But it’s easy to get caught up in “you” and forget the meaning behind the holiday. President’s Day is an opportunity to recognize some of the great and crappy Presidents that have helped to build our nation. Being leader of the free world is really hard work - requiring frequent vacations and trips to the ranch. Sometimes you need to take a night off from building an empire and have a nice, stiff drink. So that’s how we are going to celebrate today - take it easy, turn off the Treo and drink what the big boys do. more ›

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Nixon’s Nixon was originally presented in 1996 and is currently being revived with the original cast members at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in the West Village. The play takes place in the Lincoln Sitting Room at the White House and imagines what went on during an historic meeting between Nixon and Kissinger on the eve of Nixon’s resignation. more ›

More trouble for Westchester DA Jeannine Pirro's four month bid to run against Hillary Clinton in 2006: She has to chat with Governor Pataki to "weigh her options." Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said Pirro should get out of hte race and run for Attorney General instead. Scuttlebutt is that Ed Cox, Richard Nixon's son-in-law, will return to the Senate race, after having been shushed out by Pataki earlier this year. What's hilarious is that Pirro's own advisers may be the ones trying to move her to the Attorney General's case, since she'd probably get thrashed by Clinton. more ›

William Hubbs Rehnquist, the 16th chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, died last night of thyroid cancer. He was 80. While his death does not come as a huge surprise, he has been visibly ailing for months now, that he died days before confirmation hearings begin for John Roberts does turn things around a bit. Rehnquist, who was appointed to the court in 1971 by Richard Nixon, was made Chief Justice in 1986. He oversaw some major decisions in his court, ranging from flag burning (Texas v. Johnson) to election recounts (Bush v. Gore). The Washington Post has a good breakdown of his key decisions. In fact, the obits are already pouring in, so rather than regurgitate them, we'll just point you in their direction. more ›

Yesterday in Manhattan, Westchester D.A. Jeanine Pirro made her first lengthy remarks outlining her goals - and attacking Senator Hillary Clinton - and also got fouled up in the middle of her speech when she spent 32 seconds searching for page 10 of her speech and couldn't discuss tax deficit issues. That intern who collated the speech is totally fired! And at a speech in Albany, a Pirro campaign aide apparently didn't plug in a device that fed sound to TV and radio coverage. D'oh! The Daily News says the campaign of Ed Cox, son-in-law of Richard Nixon and another person eyeying the Republican Senate nomination, called her a flip-flopper because Pirro suddenly announced she was against late-term abortions. Hey, did Cox's folks need to consult the Republican Party Style Guide, because we thought flip-flopper was only a word Republicans called Democrats. Anyway, the a new Marist poll shows that the appearance of Pirro turns Clinton's 64% in pre-Pirro days to 50%, but Pirro would still trail by a ton, with only 22%. more ›

Clinton has a better chance, by virtue of name recognition and the desperate hope that Bubba could make things interesting at 1600 Pennsylvania once again. And while it would be interesting to see an all-female Senate election, Pirro will be facing other Republican opposition, including a son-in-law of Richard Nixon. Pirro is also a moderate Republican - she's pro-choice, pro-gay rights, and pro-death penalty. The two women are similar: They're smart, tough lawyers; they have husbands who've been in trouble (Pirro's husband Albert was jailed for tax evasion); and they both sport sleekly styled hairdos for women of a certain age. Pundits are expecting a Clinton-Pirro showdown to be pricey, so, kids, now's the time to jump into political consulting. more ›

I was born during the Kennedy administration, in Milwaukee Wisconsin, so people can date me within a thousand days. I went to Tufts University in Boston, which is where I started making short films. In fact, my first project was with my next-door neighbor, Gary Winick, who directed Tadpole and is off doing Charlotte’s Web right now. I had an idea to do a short film on super 8, I asked Gary if he would act in it, which he agreed. So, he had to take of his Fiorucci’s. He was from New York, so that’s what they were wearing at the time. more ›

This year's competition jury has three Americans: Novelist Edwidge Danticat, Kathleen Turner, and Quentin Tarantino, who is the chair and has already been on a Cannes panel about piracy: "I would be a liar if I was to say, across the board, no piracy." more ›