Paul Demko

"Readers of the Post, though, may not notice immediately: I’m told that there are still roughly 900 pre-written obits in the can, waiting for God to decide on when to lift the embargo." politico.com/news/magazine/…

Some professional news: After 11 years of columnizing at WaPo, I'm taking the buyout. This is my last column. It is my advice to any other lucky pundits who land a perch like this—11 principles I've aspired to, even if I haven't always achieved them: wapo.st/3TU2fGw

“As budgets shrink and public needs grow because of this new law, defending the status quo isn’t just inefficient; it’s also immoral.” nytimes.com/2025/07/22/opi…

“What started as an effort to lower error rates became a reward for states with the highest error rates, which now have every incentive to further botch their administrative process. This is the maddening hypocrisy of this so-called reform.” wapo.st/4o6lNW8

Today's NJ Playbook: @politiconj turns 10. politi.co/46Zx0S6

“She’s a nice lady who believes in law and order and common sense,” Catsimatidis said of Sears. politico.com/news/magazine/…

Columbia University says it has reached a settlement with the Trump administration to end federal investigations into civil rights violations stemming from divisive protests at the New York City campus over the Israel-Hamas war, via @iriesentner politico.com/news/2025/07/2…

“It should be very clear that Democrats are having a very good time with this at Republicans’ expense,” Buck tells us. “And Republicans don't seem to quite appreciate that, and are kind of letting themselves be taken for a ride.” politico.com/newsletters/pl…

“The city was rougher then. There were 1,700 homicides in 1979, or an average of 4.75 a day. Last year there were 377.” nytimes.com/2025/07/23/nyr…

“According to data obtained by Politico, 34 public radio and TV stations receive at least 50 percent of their funding from federal grants. Twelve of those stations are in Alaska.” politico.com/newsletters/we…

“Every candidate should scrub their social media,” says @OsseChi. “But I think that’s very difficult to do. Once something is on the internet, it kind of lasts forever.” tinyurl.com/hu5r3e73

“Yao is number one in paradise. Compared to him I’m cold ash in a pot.” wapo.st/46kUUHs

“‘Everything is breaking,’ Fernande said — their house, their sense of security, the life they’d charted over plates of stewed chicken and rice.” wapo.st/4kXkeak

“The Epstein conspiracy theory belongs to everyone and answers to no party. It is an unstable compound — one that’s being used by political actors everywhere to get attention or score political points.” theatlantic.com/technology/arc…

“This enterprise — the NYPD—was criminal at its core.” politico.com/news/2025/07/1…

“Many Jews believe it is the bare minimum for Zohran to go beyond distancing himself personally from language like ‘globalize the intifada,’” said an aide to a Jewish elected official granted anonymity to speak freely about the sensitive matter. politico.com/news/2025/07/1…

Politico is hiring a reporter to focus on the rebuilding of Los Angeles after this year's catastrophic wildfires recruiting.ultipro.com/PER1013PCLL/Jo…

“There are things you experience that are so basic that people just don’t tell you. It’s a little bit like people telling you about going to sea — nobody bothers to tell you that it is salty. They always overlook the details.” wapo.st/4eP6WLv

“‘There’s, like, four people on social media, and they have a million followers,’ Bacon told me. ‘And they are thugs.’ He received 31,000 phone calls to his office during the speakership brawl, he said, plus texts and emails.” theatlantic.com/politics/archi…

“I was born and raised in New Jersey, and there’s a Western Oklahoma twang to my voice there, so it sounds very weird.” oklahoman.com/story/news/pol…