A Stitch in Haste

I'm having trouble coming up with a non-expletive term for our infamous local megalomaniac:
After being dealt a rare public embarrassment by the City Council, which forced his administration to acknowledge on Monday that he was legally required to send out $400 rebate checks promised to hundreds of thousands of New York homeowners, a defiant Mr. [...]

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–A Special Guest Question: How Will the Imperial Presidency End?
–What percentage of the "Master Settlement Agreement" with tobacco companies are the 46 participating state governments actually spending on tobacco prevention?
–How accurate is the TSA's new "behavior detection" program?
–How many websites has Iran's radical Islamic government blocked as "immoral and anti-social"?
–Who wrote the following?
A nation whose [...]

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You may have noticed the current Sidebar Sidetrack, which links to a survey of ugly buildings.
By sheer coincidence, word has come down that New York City's out-of-control Landmarks Preservation Commission continues to justify its own unjustifiable existence by finding new sharks to jump:
Silver Towers/University Village, three concrete towers designed by I. M. Pei that were [...]

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While I was not surprised to learn that the online dating site eHarmony would eventually be compelled to cease its policy of not accepting gays as clients, I was surprised to learn that the compulsion would come from New Jersey:
Under terms of the settlement between Eric McKinley, a gay match-seeker from New Jersey, and eHarmony, [...]

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Interesting:
A state appeals court ruled Wednesday that a western Pennsylvania township violated constitutional protections in forcing a sexually oriented business to close on minor holidays such as Flag Day.
…
The video and book store, Adultland XXX, faced the prospect of being shut down for a year because it conducted sales on Flag Day 2006. It previously [...]

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The three key developments:
1. The California Supreme Court will hear the challenges and decide whether to strike down Prop. 8.
2. Only Yes on 8, and no other supporters of the amendment, will be allowed to intervene. (Note, however, that the task of defending Prop. 8 will fall primarily to Attorney General Jerry Brown — who [...]

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To review: There was a flash in the blogospheric pan a few months ago over a controversial book called Nudge, the authors of which (a law professor and an economics professor, both of some renown) insisted that "libertarian paternalism" is not an axiomatic oxymoron. I, along with almost every other libertarian commentator, was skeptical.
Through sheer [...]

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Mitt Romney, January 14, 2008:
Michigan is enduring a one-state recession, and the problem has only been exacerbated by poor choices made by some of the leaders in Lansing to raise taxes and take that course instead of cutting spending.
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A lot of Washington politicians are aware of the pain, but they haven't done anything about it. [...]

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Bob Herbert is confused:
The famous Daily News headline, "Ford to City: Drop Dead," ran on Oct. 30, 1975.
New York was on the verge of bankruptcy, and President Ford (who never actually said "drop dead") had made it clear, after listening to conservative hard-liners both inside and outside of his administration, that he planned to veto [...]

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Anyone still pretending that China's authoritarians are committed to free-market principles?
Companies in two Chinese provinces, Shandong and Hubei, have been told they must seek official consent if they want to lay off more than 40 people. The order highlights the Chinese authorities' concern over mounting job losses.
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The Chinese authorities are keen to avoid social instability, [...]

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