NEW from me: what does Mamdani actually believe about police, beyond his platform now? His campaign declined to answer specifics including re new video we found when he calls for “abolition” & police union “power is built on the murder of Black people” www.cnn.com/2025/09/28/p...

NEW - Kamala Harris to me this afternoon: “It’s painful to see. I mean what’s happening with Comey: Are you fucking kidding me? The United States Department of Justice?” www.cnn.com/2025/09/26/p...

As happened at an Obama event last week, Harris tonight in New York was interrupted by protesters screaming about Gaza. As Obama did, she responded in part that she doesn’t have any foreign policy power right now. Protesters like these have not been at any Trump or Vance events.

At first book event in NY, Harris is interrupted by screaming pro-Palestinian protestors. When another woman screamed back, Harris says, “Let’s bring the temperature down—unlike the current president.” Then: “What’s happening right now in Gaza is outrageous and breaks my heart”

Mamdani called Kamala Harris this afternoon to thank her for her support, two people familiar with the call tell me. Harris told her New York needs to be successful and that means he needs to be successful. www.cnn.com/2025/09/24/p...

Mamdani orbit to those who question whether he can govern as mayor, via top adviser Morris Katz: Their campaign was “dismissed by every pundit to a historic victory & it will be that same culture of excellence that delivers the change this city deserves.” www.cnn.com/2025/09/18/p...

NEW from me: Obama pivoted from praise to a warning. You’ve got the inspiration part down, the former president told Zohran Mamdani, but there’s a lot riding on governing. ...inside the success & struggles as Mamdani starts to think about running NYC www.cnn.com/2025/09/18/p...

Obama: “When I hear not just our current president, but his aides, who have a history of calling political opponents vermin, enemies, who need to be ‘targeted,’ that speaks to a broader problem that we have right now & something that we’re going to have to grapple with” www.cnn.com/2025/09/16/p...

The GOP president and the GOP nominee for NYC mayor together in 1986. “He looks to me and he goes, ‘Curtis, what are we gonna do?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, Donald, you’re not a conservative, I’m not a conservative.’ He goes, ‘Let’s make the best of it.’” www.cnn.com/2025/09/14/p...

the pushback Pritzker led -- via the bully pulpit and via building a united response among political, business and community leaders -- appears to have convinced Trump to back off plans for Chicago that he'd been posting and even fundraising about: www.cnn.com/2025/09/12/p...

FBI director Kash Patel went out to an exclusive restaurant in New York after Charlie Kirk was shot, while also posting sometimes confusing information about the initial investigation: www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

On the most fundamental level, Biden’s mission as president was ending Trump’s hold on American politics—and because he picked her as his running mate, building up Harris to be president. Essentially, Harris writes in her new book, he failed on both: www.cnn.com/2025/09/10/p...

After never dining in Washington outside of the steak restaurant that was in the hotel he owned during his first term, here is how for the President traveled today to eat in what he said is showcasing how much safer he made the city by bringing in the National Guard:

Congresswoman pushing for ban on members owning stocks to stop conflicts of interests defends having a stake in a company owned by a political donor which focuses on areas related to her committee work: www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

Cuomo: “This is very simple: The Republicans want Mayor Mamdani … If Zohran Mamdani wins, they will pick him up and carry him around the country and kill Democrats with him. …He is the perfect stooge for President Trump. … Everything else is baloney.” www.cnn.com/2025/09/08/p...

Beyond the details of the Epstein story itself, this is a moment when Trump aides claimed both not seeing a document and then seeing that document were proof that only what Trump says is true should be believed.

Pritzker today: “As Trump has said himself, this is not about seriously fighting crime or reforming immigration – it’s about Trump’s plan to go to war with America’s third-largest city.”

Mamdani to me: “The specialty of Donald Trump and his puppets is lots of noise and very few results, but what we’ve seen over the past few weeks is just how fixated the president is on doing everything in his power to stop our campaign” www.cnn.com/2025/09/08/p...

What Eric Adams told me about the last week of Trump’s attempted interventions: “It’s life. Life is twists and turns.” John Catsimatidis, the Trump friend who helped instigated this, said he’s still telling Adams to take a Trump job by Thursday. www.cnn.com/2025/09/08/p...

NEW from me: Add this to the list of Donald Trump’s accomplishments: Helping elect a socialist mayor of New York City. That’s the backfiring effect many in the president’s hometown say will come from what he’s been trying to intervene against Mamdani. www.cnn.com/2025/09/08/p...

the Biden library plans, now set for Delaware: Biden’s team envisions constructing an “immersive museum” to recap his legacy and wants the library to become “a hub for leadership, service, and civic engagement. www.cnn.com/2025/09/06/p...

A reminder of how abrupt the end of Kamala Harris’s extended Secret Service protection was: Trump did not sign the letter ending it until Thursday, and as of today, she doesn’t have it.

New executive order from the Chicago mayor affirms” that Chicago police will not “collaborate with federal agents” on joint patrols or arrests pursue “avenues to resist coordinated efforts from the federal government” www.cnn.com/2025/08/30/p...

padron peppers, chicken paella, pan con tomate, patatas bravas

New added reporting on Harris's Secret Service being pulled: "The order to remove Harris’ detail came from the White House, one official with the Secret Service told CNN. The decision was not part of a security review or new threat assessment." www.cnn.com/2025/08/29/p...

As Trump pressures changes in exhibits at the Smithsonian: “The Pentagon is restoring a portrait of Gen. Robert E. Lee, which includes a slave guiding the Confederate general’s horse in the background, to the West Point library” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/u...

We asked the White House several times for what prompted this change in Harris’s protection — a revised threat assessment, for example. So far, no answers. Just the president’s signature on the memo revoking the extended coverage. www.cnn.com/2025/08/29/p...

BREAKING from me - yesterday, Trump personally canceled the Secret Service protection Harris had extended via a previously undisclosed executive action Biden signed. The change comes as Harris prepares to head out on tour for her book about the campaign. www.cnn.com/2025/08/29/p...

Barbecue chicken with carrots, cucumber salad, roasted potatoes, steamed broccoli, fried green tomatoes

Cabinet department headquarters did not unfurl banners of a president’s face on the outsides of their buildings for any of the previous 46 administrations, but:

Trump yesterday: “A lot of people are saying maybe we need a dictator. … I’m not a dictator.” ⬇ Trump today: “The line is that I'm a dictator, but I stop crime. So a lot of people say, ‘You know, if that's the case, I'd rather have a dictator.’”

This morning in DC: three members of the National Guard spending over an hour so far just standing in front of the Krispy Kreme near one of the Dupont Circle entrances to the Metro

Pritzker: "I say, 'Mr. President, do not come to Chicago.' You are neither wanted here, nor needed here. Your remarks about this effort over the last several weeks have betrayed a continuing slip in your mental faculties and are not fit for the auspicious office that you occupy."

Where we’re at: Trump in the Oval Office just now: “A lot of people are saying maybe we need a dictator. … I’m not a dictator.”

In the Oval Office just now, Trump compared Zelensky to PT Barnum and said that every call he has with Putin is a good call.

NEW from me: as the DNC has its 1st meeting with Ken Martin as chair, my dive into what's been going, including: -what really happened with the Harris debt -Biden's legal bills being paid -frustration at "small ball" -tension over racial and other issues www.cnn.com/2025/08/25/p...

Newsom on those who’ve dismissed him as not ready or willing to fight: “I’ve been hiding in plain sight. It’s, like, really? You’ve now discovered something that’s been there the whole time. I think it’s maybe a secret power because, you know, get ready.” www.cnn.com/2025/08/17/p...

I asked Newsom what he thinks will happen if the redistricting ballot proposition loses: “God help us if we’re not successful. And I mean it. You may have enjoyed one of your last free and fair elections.” www.cnn.com/2025/08/17/p...

Nancy Pelosi on Trump, and Newsom’s response: “you throw a punch, you better be ready to take punch — for the children, as I always say, and for our democracy.” www.cnn.com/2025/08/17/p...

NEW from me: a lot of Dems talk about fighting Trump. Newsom is now into his 2nd big actual fight. He knows a lot’s riding on it, including for him “I don’t want to go to another candlelight vigil. I don’t want to hold hands. Ppl need to do something.” www.cnn.com/2025/08/17/p...

where we’re at:

On the trail last year: calling for an end to stock trading in Congress In Washington this year: the 2nd most active stock trader in Congress www.nytimes.com/2025/08/16/u...

Trump brought a “American Bald Eagle Desk Statue” to give to Putin as a present www.npr.org/2025/08/16/n...

Mamdani on Obama in 2012 and 2013 vs Mamdani on Obama now: “We spoke about the importance, in a moment such as this, where politics is often characterized by a language of darkness, the necessity of hope, in how we speak, in how we orient ourselves to the world."

logo for what will likely be a very expensive and extensive campaign to pass Newsom's ballot initiative includes a riff on the American flag with uneven lines:

Hunter Biden sits for another interview with Andrew Callaghan to respond to Melania Trump’s threat to sue for $1 billion for his saying she was introduced to Trump by Epstein. Asked if he will apologize, Biden says, “Fuck that. That’s not going to happen.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs9v...

Current state of the economy is articles with tips for freezing vegetables and using digital coupons to keep up with rising supermarket prices: www.cnn.com/2025/08/13/b...

as Trump tries to tilt the national political conversation about police/law & order to Republicans, the Virginia Police Benevolent Association backs Democrat Abigail Spanberger for governor -- a switch from four years ago, when it backed all Republicans: www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

A year and a half ago, Biden referred to Macron as “Mitterand from Germany — I mean, from France” though Mitterand had been dead since 1996 (and was never from Germany). This morning, Trump referred to Leningrad, which hasn’t been the name of the Russian city since 1991:

February: “Rep. Tim Burchett told NOTUS that he still sleeps in his office because it helps him stay productive and get to meetings early.” www.notus.org/congress/elo... August: