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It’s the frightening stuff of science fiction. You’ll walk out of your cramped city apartment every day into a sea of people, and you’ll be sandwiched among them as you go to work or buy food at the market. You’ll see scores of homeless people sprawled on the same jam-packed …

To watch “The Talking Points Memo” in the Screening Room click here. The French newspaper Liberation reports that Americantourism (search)to France is down an astounding 80 percent in the first half of this year. The French government puts the decrease at 30 percent and says the weak dollar is the …

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine: Congressional Inquiry Republican Congressman Tom Davis of Virginia is asking Democrat Henry Waxman, the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, to convene a hearing over the MoveOn.org ad in The New York Times calling General David Petraeus, “General Betray Us.” …

Save the cupcake! That’s what one New York state assemblyman intends to do with proposed legislation aimed at reversing several school districts’ bans on the sweet treat at classroom parties, fundraising bake sales and other events. Assemblyman Michael Benjamin, a Democrat from the Bronx, N.Y., is introducing a bill Friday …

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine: ‘Outsourcing’ Torture The man heading a European investigation into allegations that the CIA is operating secret prisons in Europe Tuesday accused the U.S. of “outsourcing torture” and said that is “worse than torturing people yourself.” But in submitting his interim report to …

MEMPHIS – This Southern city boasts Elvis and a whole lot of charm — but if its personality had to be distilled down to two words, it would be music and barbecue. The blues, country and gospel music converged along the Mississippi in the 1950s and ’60s to create some …

MONSEY, N.Y. – The photograph is jarring, to say the least. Why on earth would a rabbi from New York travel to Tehran to embrace Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a man who says the Holocaust never happened and that Israel should be annihilated? In Rockland County, N.Y., a short drive …

NASA is on a flight path to replant astronauts on the Moon, looking to sustain a human presence on that cratered, airless orb on a “go-as-the nation-can-afford-to-pay” basis. That approach is seen as letting people step back onto the lunar surface no later than 2020. Space engineers have honed in …

Your Grrrs, and don’t forget to play Spot the Oblivion below… David S. writes: I completely aGrrree with you. Too many of our politicians and celebs get off without taking responsibility for their own actions. It’s a classic Freud blame-game mentality. I’m sick of it. Too much of our society …

Jacko: Custody Question | Zevon: He Slept When He Was Dead | ‘Mission 3’: Over Jacko: Custody Question Michael Jackson’s problems are far from over, despite the very breezy version of his life that appeared in the New York Times business section yesterday. Jackson’s legal difficulties are actually headed for …