President Obama's chief of staff, Bill Daley, announced that he would resign his post at the end of the month. Sources in the White House tell the AP that Daley's letter of resignation, which he submitted last week, took president Obama by surprise. "I have been honored to be in your Muppet Movie a small part of your administration," Daley's letter read. In a brief press conference today, the president said, "There's no question I will deeply miss having Bill by my side at the White House, " and stated that OMB director Jack Lew will take the reins. more ›

Whether it's refusing to use a national tragedy as a xenophobic soapbox, keeping their genitals out of the public eye, or nobly declining to have sex with prostitutes while wearing diapers, we can always count on our elected representatives to put aside petty differences and do what's right for America. But shocking new data shows that Congress has lost touch with average Americans and has grown richer over the last several decades, at a faster rate than even the richest 10% of the country. more ›

[Aaaand the Republican faction caved. Update below.] President Obama and George Bush's mastermind Karl Rove are in agreement that the House Republicans are out of their freaking minds for blocking an extension to the payroll tax cuts enacted last year. Although 89 Senators voted in favor of the two-month extension, which affects about 160 million Americans, House Speaker John Boehner is going along with the hard-right fiscal Conservative monsters spawned by the Tea Party and refusing to call it to a vote. And thus, strange bedfellows have come together to try and shame the Republicans into passing the extension. more ›

A stretch of soft opponents could be the best thing to happen to the Jets, who face the Redskins in Landover, Md., on Sunday. They squeaked by the Bills on Sunday with the help of a late comeback and some timely drops by Bills receiver Stevie Johnson. Mark Sanchez threw for four touchdowns but otherwise had an unremarkable day—he completed only 48.6 percent of his passes. more ›

Though he's couched his opposition to the renewal of the "Millionaire's Tax" in the lofty language of personal conviction, Governor Cuomo appears to be warming up to the idea of bringing more "fairness" to the tax code in order to bolster an anemic state budget. The Times reports that Democrats in the State Assembly were warned that the governor may call a special session of the legislature on Tuesday, and sources say "leaders were discussing the creation of new tax brackets that would allow them to apply higher tax rates to the state’s top earners" while giving middle-class families a tax cut. Perhaps the governor cares more about polling than he initially let on. more ›

It's official: the bipartisan Congressional supercommittee charged with coming up with a compromise of budget-cutting (entitlement-slashing) and new revenue (taxes) has failed. Because the twelve lawmakers couldn't even come up with a way to call a press conference, the two chairs released a statement saying they were "unable to bridge the committee's significant differences." But enough of the doom and gloom: check out these AMAZING Black Friday deals! 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 ›

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 ›

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 ›

A San Francisco-bound United flight at Dulles Airport outside DC was evacuated around 12:41 p.m. today after experiencing engine problems. "The emergency chutes were deployed," an airport spokesperson told the Washington Post, and everyone—including passenger and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg—slid down to safety. Will Ginsburg now have to recuse herself from Slip 'N Slide v. Jetliner Puffy Slides, Inc.? more ›

In a major speech tonight, President Obama is announcing a jobs and growth package that could top $400 billion, CBS reports. Excerpts of the speech were given to the press, and in addition to signature soaring rhetoric, Obama is outlining specific spending increases and tax cuts that he hopes will, among other things, lead to the hiring of one million unemployed construction workers. According to a copy obtained by CNN, Obama will tell the American people and Congress: more ›

Now that we've all got a soothing cup of coffee in hand, let's take a closer look at the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked the East Coast yesterday. Beginning at 1:51 p.m., the quake lasted between 20 and 30 seconds. The USGS reported two aftershocks of magnitude 2.8 and 2.2 within 90 minutes of the initial quake. People felt the quake from Ontario all the way down to Alabama, because "it was a shallow earthquake, and geological conditions in the eastern U.S." make for a widely shared experience. Why? "Western rock is relatively young" ("impudent," lets say?) and absorbs the violent shaking near the epicenter, while eastern rock is "far older, and so earthquakes can have a much larger and more widespread impact." more ›

As expected, Majority Leader Harry Reid failed to keep his debt-ceiling bill alive in the Senate earlier today, but now the Times reports that Reid has approved an agreement signaled earlier today by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that would cut the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion and raise the debt-ceiling limit through 2013, a provision that prevents this entire battle from being re-fought during the election season. If the Democrats approve, we should see a vote scheduled for the Senate this evening. more ›

Are you a veteran, receiving Social Security, a government contractor, or of one of the recipients of the 70 million checks the federal government mails out every month? Your payments may be drastically affected (along with the American economy) next month if the debt-ceiling limit isn't raised in 10 days. more ›

The man accused of plotting to bomb the Washington D.C. Metro is the second terrorist suspect to emerge from the fertile loins of Staten Island this week. Farooque Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, currently claims residence in Northern Virginia, but he lived on Staten Island for many years, and studied for two years at the College of Staten Island (ultimately graduating from the City University of New York). He also took his oath of allegiance (HA!) in New York. more ›

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner allegedly told Mayor Bloomberg in a meeting that the Obama Administration is going ahead with its Wall Street reform package, and that the new reforms would be good for the city. One official told the Daily News, "People are angry and until those people, including New Yorkers, see real reforms, they are going to stay angry." more ›

The House voted 402-1 to urge its ethics committee to continue investigating allegations of sexual harassment involving former Democratic Rep. Eric Massa. Republicans accused top-ranking Democrats of ignoring the allegations against the resigned southwestern New York representative who purportedly groped and tickled male staffers and interns, used "inappropriate" words in conversations with aides, and attempted to "snorkel" a former roommate. more ›

Recently-resigned Rep. Eric Massa insists he "did nothing sexual" with his staff, but he admits he tickled them, sent them "inappropriate" text messages, and told one aide he should be "fracking" him. Just hours after news broke that Massa was under investigation for groping male aides, the former New York Congressman told Glenn Beck: "Now they are saying I groped a male staffer. Yeah, I did. Not only did I grope him. I tickled him until he couldn't breathe, and then four guys jumped on top of me. It was my 50th birthday. It was kill the old guy. You can take anything out of context." more ›

President Obama's advisers are reportedly close to recommending that Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other accused 9/11 plotters be tried in a military tribunal, not a lower Manhattan federal courthouse. According to unnamed sources cited in the Washington Post, the White House might cave to bipartisan opposition to holding the trial at Foley Square, as well as pressure mainly from Republicans who think the suspected terrorists should face justice in a military court. more ›

President Obama spent the afternoon in the Situation Room meeting with his national security team, the first face-to-face meeting with some two dozen advisers since the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Following the meeting, the president acknowledged that the government knew of “other red flags” in the failed underwear bombing plot. "This was not a failure to collect intelligence, it was a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had," Obama told reporters at the White House. For good measure, he added that "the system has failed" in a major way. But at least the FAIL wasn't as bad as the one in Slovakia on Saturday! more ›

The Obama administration will attempt to give the federal government control over safety regulations for the nation's subway and light-rail systems. You know who else controlled an entire nation's transit system? Mussolini. But he made the trains run on time! (Or did he?) At any rate, Obama's plan would expand the U.S DOT's control over airlines and Amtrak to every subway and light-rail system in the country, including the MTA. The proposal will be presented to Congress by the end of the year. more ›

Over the weekend, officials announced that they had identified the teenager who was found wandering in Times Square with near-total amnesia. She is 18-year-old Kacie Aleece Peterson of Hansville, Washington, who was first reported missing on October 2nd. But detectives in Washington found bank activity and other evidence that she was alive and getting by, so they did not issue an Amber Alert. Her father Henry Peterson is flying to NYC today, and he says his daughter has experienced amnesia before. more ›

Just yesterday city officials were bitching about how the Justice Department wasn't giving NYC a dime from the $1 billion economic-stimulus money intended to help cities avoid laying off cops. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder explained that, "These officers will go to where they are needed most, based on crime rates, financial need and community policing activities." In other words, crime is relatively low here, and other places (like the mean streets of Caribou, Maine) need help more. Mayor Bloomberg fumed to reporters, "To punish our Police Department because they have driven down crime with fewer resources shows the backwards incentive system that is sometimes at work in Washington." more ›

If you were one of the 150,000 New Yorkers who tried and failed to nab one of the golden tickets to the Obama Inauguration distributed by Senator Chuck Schumer, consider yourself lucky. Schumer is now calling for an investigation into last Tuesday's utterly predictable clusterfuck, which left thousands languishing in lines far from the area where President Obama took his mangled oath of office. (Some were reduced to calling family at home and listening to Obama's address on TV via cell phone!) The Daily News obtained an e-mail sent to Schumer from one bitter ticket winner named Cathy Shannon, who writes, "I'm sorry I was a winner, as now I am a big loser. After waiting on line for 3-1/2 hours... I actually got to miss the event. It was disgraceful... The most disorganized event I ever attended in my life. Schumer says he "feels terrible" and promises he'll make it up to everyone in 2012! more ›

Since January 1st, the state's unemployment fund has been borrowing roughly $90 million a week from the federal unemployment trust fund, and the deficit has already reached $212 million. M. Patricia Smith, the state's labor commissioner, tells the Times, "I think we went insolvent about two hours into 2009. We're seeing 50 percent more claimants each week than a year ago." Soup is good food! The article goes into infuriating detail about how New York has the lowest unemployment benefits in the region, and the deficit is caused not just from the spike in joblessness, but because the state has not increased the payroll tax that covers the unemployment fund in nearly a decade. With Democrats finally controlling the Legislature, there is some hope that the state might finally upgrade the system to cover the downsized masses, but in the meantime, the Fed's charging 4.64% interest, and New York's debt to Uncle Sam is expected to exceed $2.5 billion by the end of 2010. more ›

Yesterday the Sun broke news that Democratic Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver has a weird habit of traveling from New York City to Albany by flying through D.C., racking up frequent flier miles for himself while costing taxpayers $500 to $760 for his round-trip airfare. Today the defunct paper takes a Parthian shot at the politician, interviewing watchdog groups who say Silver's costly (but legal) commute is proof that the state legislature needs to revise its transportation policy. And Bill Hammond at the Daily News goes further, deriding the assemblyman for his excess. Hammond (who bears a striking resemblance to accounts receivable accountant Herbert Kornfeld), says, "If there's a costlier, less direct and more wasteful way for state government to do something, count on Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to find it...It's time to ground Air Sheldon." more ›

State Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver has a funny way of traveling between his Manhattan district and Albany: through D.C.! Instead of taking Amtrak or driving like other representatives, Silver prefers commuting by plane with a stopover 200 miles in the wrong direction. Depending on the length of the layover, the trip can end up taking four hours—not including the time it takes to get to the airport and pass through security. (A drive to Albany averages two and a half hours, and the train takes roughly the same amount of time.) The Sun speculates that for Silver it's all about US Airways' frequent flier miles, which Silver gets to keep while taxpayers pay for the tickets (usually costing $500-$760 for round-trip). more ›

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If you're one of those people that think the FBI has better things to do than investigate Roger Clemens, you have an ally in Washington DC. Congressman Anthony Weiner voiced his opinion on the investigation into Clemens. Weiner sent a letter to the Attorney General questioning the benefit of continuing the investigation into Clemens’ testimony to Congress, saying "Whether or not Roger Clemens may have committed perjury should not compete with real national security threats for the FBI’s time, attention and resources.” more ›

Yesterday, Senator John McCain was welcomed and endorsed by President Bush. Bush referenced McCain's doubters and past history, "John showed incredible courage and strength of character and perseverance in order to get to this moment. And that's exactly what we need in a President: somebody that can handle the tough decisions; somebody who won't flinch in the face of danger." more ›