On Thursday morning we happened to get caught in an L-train shutdown at Third Avenue. We didn't think much of it, as hey, it's the MTA, what are the chances something interesting is going on versus the chances that somebody fell asleep at the switch? But it turns out there is something sensational going on these days in the subway stations around 14th Street. There's a mole mugger. According to the Daily News, a string of purse snatchings has recently plagued the L and 1 lines. Fifty officers (and even a bloodhound) were mustered on Thursday morning to nab the guy, and they almost caught him. Until he disappeared into the tracks!! Because of a murky power struggle between the MTA and cops, they weren't able to stop train service and pursue him. So this could continue. Apparently this was the fourth time the mugger successfully robbed a purse and escaped into the dark, terrifying tunnels under the city. It sounds like something out of an adventure novel, like the “pocketbooks” he’s been “stealing” are actually themselves stolen relics from an Nepalese temple that some nefarious arch-villain is trying to assemble in the hope of conjuring ancient evil spirits to do his bidding. It's almost glamorous. Or it would be, if we didn't see all of the crap that flows in and out of those tunnels when it rains. —Ben Mathis Lilley

Cops, transit officials in power struggle [NYDN]

It's been a long time since we've been able to muster up any sort of rage over traffic cops. Not driving cars, we don't get parking citations, traffic violations, or speeding tickets. So we've sort of forgotten what it's like to hate on this poor, perhaps ill-advised (in terms of career choices, at least) group of people. But apparently there are still some city dwellers that harbor a lot of resentment. These are the people that gathered to witness the following series of events last month.

Traffic agent Eric Celemi spotted a double-parked car in the Bronx one afternoon and proceeded to write out a standard ticket. The owner of the car, a young woman, turned up while he was writing out the citation and tried to protest it. It turned out her boyfriend, Eladro Mata, was a cop, and he also tried to talk Celemi out of the ticket. But the traffic agent persisted — it was already written, after all — and tried to put the ticket on the woman's windshield. That's when Mata shoved him, and then proceeded to punch him repeatedly in the head.

It's been a while since we've checked in on Palazzo Chupi, Julian Schnabel's West Village condo that we love, partly because the towering building with the controversial pink exterior reminds us of big, ol' pulchritudinous Schnabe himself. We assumed that the Chupi's units would be snapped up by wealthy boomers as soon as they hit the market, but apparently not so much. Not only did Richard Gere perform the unthinkable act of flipping his unit, The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Schnabel and his Brown Harris Steven brokers have performed the sort of drastic price cut that just lets you know the real-estate market is in the shitter: A duplex, once valued at $32 million, is now being offered for a paltry $29.5 million. This is bad news for Schnabel, but good news for us: Now we only need $29,499,900. Until then, we're just going to gaze at these new pictures…

Julian Schnabel Lowers Price on Pink Unit [WSJ]

Here at Daily Intel, we are sometimes a little hard on Chris Matthews. We love the guy, but that relentlessly abrasive voice! It's like Hillary Clinton's without the phony accents. Yet yesterday he totally kicked some broadcast ass. During a segment on Hardball, Matthews discussed Bush's Obama appeasement snipe. His guests were Air America's Mark Green and conservative radio host Kevin James. James is exactly the kind of hysterical blowhard that makes Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly look like Confucius and Lao Tzu. He is full of bluster about Obama, comparing him to Neville Chamberlain at the dawn of WWII. But as Matthews quickly discovers, the guy has no idea what he is talking about. When pressed on what Chamberlain did in 1938 that many say encouraged Hitler (agreeing to let him annex the Sudetenland in the Munich Agreement), James explodes into evasive tactics. Matthews doesn't let him off the hook, though, eventually calling him "pathetic." It's a little uncomfortable to watch, actually. But if you're the type that loves the first few episodes of American Idol because it's full of overconfident people looking like asses, this is the political segment for you.

Chris Matthews Eviscerates Right-Wing Host Kevin James Over Obama "Appeasement" Claims [HuffPo]
Earlier: Obama, Mr. Center of the Universe

Canada was starting to feel like it was terminally uncool. Even though the United States had the worst president ever and the depreciated dollar made traveling almost anywhere else prohibitive, people still didn't want to hang with Canada. 'It's like I have a disease or something," Canada said to herself. "Just be yourself, honey," Canada's mom soothed, but it's not like that had gotten Canada anywhere. And anyway, Canada didn't want to be herself. She wasn't content knowing that she was interesting and cool on the inside and waiting to be discovered by people who were smart enough to know how special she was. What Canada wanted was to be popular. "I know," Canada said to herself. "I'm going to throw a big party in New York and invite all the coolest kids, and when they see how awesome my party is, they'll have to like me!"

Thank you for being a friend! The Brooklyn Paper has a story today about a group of "co-living enthusiasts," a bunch of adults who have taken a cue from Golden Girls and decided that living together is more fun or at least less tragic than living alone, and are looking to buy a building together near Prospect Park in which they can create a commune. But not a hippie commune, the residents are quick to point out, a yuppie commune, like an elder version of The Real World. “Take a commune and a condo, put them in a blender and this is what you get,” one resident explains to the paper. Hm. Take a group of plushie enthusiasts and the kind of people who stand around with signs saying "Free Hugs," more like. Something about a bunch of adults living as roommates seems inherently pervy to us, possibly because we are still scarred from watching The Lifestyle*. But maybe they'll prove us wrong. In any case, we expect to find out, as we imagine that Lifetime television is offering this group a reality show right around … now.

Wanted: Roommates with money [Brooklyn Paper]

The swing scene. THE SWING SCENE. It haunts us.

Donny Deutsch's show isn't doing so hot. Its ratings on CNBC are down 15 percent from last year, and sometimes his viewership is so low it doesn’t even register on the Nielsen scale. So it would be a good time for the Big Idea host to agree to a fluff profile, right? Maybe in the alumni magazine of his alma mater, the Pennsylvania Gazette. They're sure to say something nice. They have to! Or maybe not. In this month's issue, magazine writer Jordana Horn gives Deutsch the Observer treatment, allowing the former adman to make himself look kind of ridiculous. The article leads with Deutsch stripping off his shirt during the interview and boasting that he could be mayor of New York if he wanted. “You know, if I really wanted to do it, I would meet with a top advisor. I’d find some great political operatives, and hire the head of my campaign,” Deutsch said. “I’d meet with all the top people I know on Wall Street, and start a fundraising campaign.” Horn, to her credit, does a pretty good job of ignoring his "not-bad set of abs for a 50-year-old guy" and presses him on the mayor point. “You gotta say, why not me?” Deutsch persists.

It's probably not surprising that Horn seems to loathe Deutsch after this moment. The title of her story is "Why Not Him?," and you almost suspect her implied answer is, "Because He's a Turd Goblin."

We didn't catch Conan O'Brien last night because at the time it aired we were at a Nylon party with Blake Lively and Penn Badgley from Gossip Girl, craning our necks to see if we could catch them smooching. (We didn't.) But today we managed to find the above clip of their co-star Leighton Meester giving her debut performance on the show. Despite our deep abiding love for Leighton/Blair, we were not terribly impressed. She basically spends the entire segment giggling, which eventually even makes Conan nervous. It's like she's become the anti-Blair. This is not what she seems to be like in real life, so the poor girl must have been very nervous. You really have to watch it. For a while we were convinced it was actually Rachel Bilson onstage and someone at NBC had made a terrible mistake.

Conan the Barbarian Pervs on 'Gossip Girl' [BlackBook]

As we mentioned earlier, yesterday Ashley Alexandra Dupré — a.k.a. "Kristen" — emerged from her PR holding cell somewhere in Jersey and ventured into Manhattan's irresistible spotlight. Actually, it was at Port Authority where she finally came back to us, and naturally she was greeted by some doting Post photographers. We wanted to share those precious moments with you, so that you might lovingly commit them to memory. Who knows when you might see a Fendi belt that big in broad daylight again.

Earlier: Kristen Is Back!

Bill O'Reilly last night mentioned the old clip of himself from Inside Edition that has been making the rounds on the Internet this week. The clip shows him exploding in anger over a malfunctioning TelePrompTer. Above, you'll see he mentions it in passing, describing his nutty rage as a "state of displeasure." "I, your humble correspondent, have plenty of much newer stuff, because by contractual obligation I have to create a few dramas every year for the amusement of my co-workers," he jokes. "They'd quit if I didn't do that." That's funny, Bill. We thought they quit when you did create drama. Anyhoo, after the jump, our favorite new YouTube spinoff, the "Bill O'Reilly Flips Out DANCE REMIX." Courtesy of, where else, gay-news blog Towleroad.