In the wake of its failed negotiations with the new Republican Congress that swept into power in the 2010 elections, the Obama administration learned some painful lessons. The main point of my long print story about this from October was that Obama had learned from his failures and was developing ... More »

Just sayin'. ... More »

Every week, New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich talks with assistant editor Eric Benson about the biggest stories in politics and culture. This week: the phony fiscal cliff countdown, Mike Bloomberg's chutzpah, and the Fox News doghouse.The fiscal cliff talks are (surprise, surprise) at an impasse. President Obama has now rejected the ... More »

The breakout star of Jay-Z's mini-documentary "Where I'm From," a look at his opening eight concerts at Brooklyn's Barclays Center, is a 67-year-old white woman. Ellen Grossman, a New York City visual artist, was sitting quietly on the subway when the rap legend sat conspicuously beside her, camera crew and ... More »

Abraham Lincoln may have figured out how to get the Thirteenth Amendment passed, but that's nothing compared to Marco Rubio, who only needed about three weeks to solve "one of the great mysteries" of the universe. After being widely chastised for telling GQ last month that he couldn't say whether ... More »

Most of the news coverage of the “fiscal cliff” has come from the perspective of soothing bipartisan centrism, a point of view dramatized most explicitly by CNBC’s hysterical countdown to January, festooned with slogans urging the two parties to “Rise Above.” The premise is that there are two ways to ... More »

Citigroup, the bank that just weeks ago unceremoniously dumped its CEO at the behest of its board chairman, today announced that it is taking "a series of repositioning actions that will further reduce expenses and improve efficiency," and that "will result in increased business efficiency, streamlined operations and an optimized ... More »

If you're the world's smallest woman or the world's hairiest teenager (do not click that), you're a little nervous today, because both the world's oldest person and the world's tallest woman have died. (Technically the world's tallest woman died on November 13, but we're only hearing about it today, so ... More »

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, the celebrated Australian philanthropist and mom to a media mogul, has passed away, leaving behind 77 living descendants and a lifetime of charity work. According to an obituary in the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal, "Mrs. Murdoch wasn't ostentatious. She once banned a secondhand Rolls-Royce her husband brought ... More »

Only one of the nine candidates backed by Sheldon Adelson won in the November election, but this hasn't dissuaded the casino magnate from acting as an ATM for the GOP. "I happen to be in a unique business where winning and losing is the basis of the entire business," Adelson ... More »

Our local papers are officially hellbent on ruining the inspirational story of the officer who bought boots for a barefoot homeless man. It's emerged that Jeffrey Hillman is still barefoot and has a home, and now the Post reports that he also has quite the rap sheet. His arrest history ... More »

The man suspected of fatally pushing 58-year-old Ki Suk Han onto the subway tracks on Monday has "made statements implicating himself in the incident," according to NYPD spokesman Paul Browne. Several news outlets have identified him as 30-year-old Naeem Davis, a homeless man who's paid to run errands for street ... More »

We knew post-Sandy theft in Queens's 100th precinct (Rockaways, Breezy Point) was bad, what with the piggy bank burglaries. But a number-crunching story from the New York Daily News includes this startling statistic that shows just how frequent an occurrence it's become: "There were 56 thefts reported in a 28-day span ... More »

Reports that Mayor Bloomberg urged Hillary Clinton to run for mayor in 2013 suggest he might not be thrilled with the current field, but at least Christine Quinn doesn't have to worry about Bloomberg backing Joe Lhota. The New York Times reports that the MTA chief is now "seriously considering" entering ... More »

Dick Armey was so furious over a FreedomWorks colleague's book deal he wanted to resign last summer, but he agreed to stay through November's election in exchange for an $8 million consulting fee, it emerged Tuesday. The Associated Press was first to report the news that Armey had signed a ... More »

The instant online reaction to Sandra Lee's tweeted photo of her and Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Christmas tree has been fun to read, if pretty mean. The photo, apparently from inside the couple's Westchester home, only went up a couple hours ago. But already it's been labeled a "hot mess," "terrible," ... More »

Ahmed Ferhani, one of two men arrested in May 2011 for plotting to blow up a synagogue in Manhattan, pleaded guilty to ten charges on Tuesday in a rare state-level terror conviction. Ferhani and Mohamed Mamdouh were arrested while buying a hand grenade, pistols, and ammunition from a police officer posing ... More »

The former mayor has a respiratory infection and is being treated with antibiotics, the Associated Press reports. It's the 87-year-old's second hospitalization in three months after he had a bout of anemia September 5. Get well soon, Ed! ... More »

If you could call what John McAfee has been doing over the past few weeks "hiding" (what with his blog, his Vice magazine embed, and his CNN interview), then you could say the fallen anti-virus mogul has emerged from hiding to seek asylum in Guatemala after fleeing Belize, where he's ... More »

Even though ACORN shut down for good in 2010, a new poll by PPP shows that 49 percent of Republican voters believe that the community organizing group "stole" the 2012 election for President Obama. To be fair, not existing didn't prevent ACORN from assassinating JFK. ... More »