“Honey, I’m tougher than the rest.” – Bruce Springsteen

The Coronavirus death toll in New York City is now higher than what we lost on 9/11. It’s higher than what we lost in 1990 – when there were more than five murders a day, mostly because of crack cocaine.

April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain. – T.S. Eliot

It would have been just another quiet early spring night in the neighborhood if it weren’t for the surgical gloves on my hands.

“Sooner or later, it all gets real.” – Neil Young

Does anyone else remember way back in February when bail reform was the biggest threat to civilization in New York?

When Michael Bloomberg was a nine-year-old boy in Massachusetts, his spiritual godfather died 3,000 miles away in a Beverly Hills mansion with his longtime mistress by his side.

One of the richest and most powerful men in the world, William Randolph Hearst built a media empire across the country and then tried to leverage it into winning the hearts of voters. Serving two terms as a New York Congressman, Hearst couldn’t get further, losing two races for mayor and one for governor. And long before there were presidential caucuses or primaries, there were smoke-filled rooms where Hearst was unable to push his name forward with Democratic fixers as a presidential or vice presidential candidate.

We’re officially in a real-life scary movie today as a deadly virus has found its way to New York City while the nation’s political elite is in full Bickersons mode.

It’s less of a statement about the power of Michael Bloomberg than the weakness of Donald Trump when the former mayor purchases three minutes of prime-time TV last night and almost sounds like Jonas Salk compared to Vice President Mike Pence – at least when it comes to Coronavirus.

Don't call it a comeback.

While he'll never sound like Pericles (unless there's a Pericles from Medford), Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday night gave a debate performance that showed he can actually defend himself when he's attacked rather than looking like someone who took a vow of non-violence before his first debate in Las Vegas.

It’s lucky that the Nevada Democratic presidential caucuses weren’t that close.

More than 24 hours after voters in the Silver State headed home, less than 90 percent of the actual vote had been counted. Maybe that doesn’t sound like such a big deal, but if Bernie Sanders had been stuck in a dogfight with Joe Biden instead of trouncing him, we’d likely be reliving the uncertainty of the Iowa caucuses where both Sanders and Pete Buttigieg were calling themselves the winner for days.

If it was a fight, Michael Bloomberg might have been saved by the bell in Las Vegas.

Looking every bit like a rusty fighter who hadn't been in the ring in more than a decade, the former New York City mayor struggled mightily in his first presidential debate as five more-seasoned rivals swung away at him, hitting him with questions about policing, lawsuits by former employees, and his immense wealth.

It’s Bill de Blasio’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” moment – he finally gets to share the stage with Bernie Sanders, only to get a little laryngitis.

Despite his faltering voice, de Blasio made the trip to Nevada over the weekend to try to talk up his endorsement of Sanders in advance of the Democratic caucuses there this Saturday. Whether voters in Reno know anything about the current mayor of New York City apparently isn’t the point when a former mayor of New York City is gaining steam in the polls. Even if he’s muzzled and a little muted, de Blasio sounds like he wants to be Sanders’ attack dog when it comes to Michael Bloomberg.

If you had just beamed down from the planet Neptune and turned on the television, you might be confused by a new campaign ad that features Barack Obama and a man who apparently was his vice president for eight years, Michael Bloomberg.

We interrupt your Monday-morning reflections about the Super Bowl, impeachment, and the Iowa presidential caucuses to tackle a far-sexier topic: property taxes.

Wait, hear me out! If you’re really concerned about inequities in society and thoughtfully nod along with the mayor whenever he starts talking about “a tale of two cities,” there’s no better place to start than looking at how hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers pay property taxes on their homes, apartments and condos.

Quick, it’s pop quiz time: can you name the last five people who ran the city’s subways?

If you were able to come up with a name besides Andy Byford, you probably deserve a MetroCard made of real gold rather than a plastic one. And while even Byford was hardly a household name in New York City, there’s a fair chance that plenty of straphangers could actually identify him if he strolled through their subway station. (And odds are that he had at some point.)

Devoting a Martin Luther King Day speech in Harlem to telling people to go back to where they come from was a curious decision by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who all but turned into a one-man lightning rod after his appearance at Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.

Speaking about gentrification, Adams let loose on newcomers who – in his mind – aren’t interested in saying hello to their neighbors or supporting longtime local businesses.