*By Carlo Versano*
Cynthia Nixon is sticking by her controversial bagel order.
The progressive Democrat challenging incumbent Andrew Cuomo in New York State's upcoming gubernatorial primary shared a cinnamon raisin bagel topped with lox and cream cheese with Cheddar on Tuesday. The unconventional medley ignited a [firestorm](https://nypost.com/2018/09/10/cynthia-nixons-bagel-order-is-horrifying/) on Twitter over the weekend, but Nixon has bigger fish to fry.
She wants the two-term Cuomo, who has long been thought to have presidential ambitions, to re-establish his liberal bona fides for voters calling for change. Cuomo maintains a 40 point lead over his challenger, according to the [latest polling] (https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2018/governor/ny/new_york_governor_democratic_primary-6526.html). But Nixon pointed to a slew of recent upsets ー Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Andrew Gillum, and Ayanna Pressley ー that have fueled her optimism for Thursday's primary.
"The polls across the board are just not capturing the progressive moment we're in," she said, adding that hundreds of thousands of new Democrats have registered to vote across New York State following Donald Trump's election.
Nixon's platform is built on issues of housing affordability, universal healthcare, and criminal justice reform. The latter has garnered her perhaps the most traction.
In a debate last month, Nixon pointedly called the legalization of marijuana a "racial-justice issue."
"Using marijuana is something that's effectively been legal for white people for a long time," she said during her interview on Cheddar. "It's time to make it legal for everybody else."
Part of that reform includes paroling and expunging the records of New Yorkers who were convicted of smoking or selling pot and using tax revenues from a nascent (decriminalized) weed industry to invest in communities that have been ravaged by the decades-long war on drugs.
Nixon's position on pot was viral enough to cause rapper T.I. to [gush](https://thegrio.com/2018/09/11/ti-cynthia-nixon-marijuana-vote/) over her on Twitter, though he admitted he doesn't know who the candidate is.
Cuomo, for his part, rejected what he called "reparations" during the debate, but struck a more cautious, pro-legalization position ー a leftward policy change that may have developed only at Nixon's prodding.
But the actress-turned-activist isn't running to liberalize Cuomo ー she's running to replace him.
"To be informed about Andrew Cuomo is to want a change," she said.
The former "Sex and the City" star said she has been encouraged by support upstate and in the suburbs, though New York City remains her core base. To that end, she has run aggressively on a campaign to fix the subway, pinning the decrepit state of the system on her opponent.
In New York, the subways are theoretically controlled by the governor, who oversees the MTA. Nixon has pledged to pass congestion pricing and a tax on the wealthy to pay for much-needed repairs to an aging infrastructure. She said Cuomo has not aggressively fought for the funding in Albany.
With two days to go until New York Democrats head to the polls, Nixon, who has refused corporate donations, knows she's the underdog against a well-known, well-funded, powerful incumbent. But there's no denying the country's progressive wave. The question remains whether that wave will be enough to carry Nixon to victory.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/cynthia-nixon-optimistic-despite-trailing-gov-andrew-cuomo-in-latest-polls).
James Comey's tell-all book is based on a "history of mistruths," the former FBI director has been spreading since he was fired, said Kayleigh McEnany, the Republican National Committee spokeswoman. The RNC has responded forcefully to the accusations in Comey's book, "A Higher Loyalty."
The two black men who were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks store have agreed to meet with its CEO Kevin Johnson at some point. After their arrest, protesters took to the streets and the #BoycottStarbucks hashtag has been trending on Twitter.
The Republicans have launched a heavy-handed campaign to discredit Comey, which will likely backfire, says Jack Crowe, news writer at the National Review. Meanwhile, Democrats aren't too pleased with Comey either. In Comey's first public interview since President Trump fired him last year, he told ABC that Trump is "morally unfit to be president."
The way that President Trump has treated law enforcement, particularly his firing of former FBI Director James Comey, is "extraordinarily damaging," says Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA). His comments come days before Comey is set to release his tell all book about the Trump administration.
On Friday, House Speaker Paul Ryan endorsed Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to replace him after he retires in January. But "given the extraordinary fracture" within the Republican party, the Speaker job would be incredibly hard, says Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA).
After Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's testimony on Capitol Hill this week, all eyes are on the kinds of regulation that may come for the tech industry. If Congress is serious about data protection, then questioning "Google is the next logical step," says Molly Wood, host of Marketplace Tech.
James Comey's new book "A Higher Loyalty" officially hits stores on Tuesday, but juicy details are already leaking out. The former FBI Director likens President Trump to a mob boss in the book. Trump criticized Comey on Twitter on Friday, calling him an "untruthful slime ball." Comey will do an interview this Sunday ahead of the book's release.
President Trump issued an executive order late Thursday night calling for a review of the U.S. Postal Service. The president wants a task force to look into the financial troubles facing the USPS. In recent weeks, Trump has criticized Amazon for contributing to the USPS's financial downfall. Even though Trump didn't specifically mention Amazon in the executive order, it's implied that he wants the task force to look into his claims against the tech giant.
And Cheddar CEO Jon Steinberg sits down with two-time NBA all-star Baron Davis to chat about his life as a tech investor. He's the founder of Sports and Lifestyle in Culture, or SLIC, a company that features and promotes original content from athletes.
Former FBI director James Comey is set to release his book "Higher Loyalty" on Tuesday. It could lead to more departures at the White House, says Kelly Macias, staff writer at the Daily Kos.
Meredith Kelly, the DCCC spokesperson, says the Speaker retired only after he pushed through a tax overhaul, which has been high on Ryan's agenda for the majority of his nearly two decade-long career. The bill, which Kelly claims "prioritized the very richest and the biggest corporations," was signed into law last year. Earlier this week, the CBO stated the bill could contribute to an increase in the deficit to about $1.85 trillion over the next year 10 years.
Michael Avenatti, the attorney for Stormy Daniels, says potential campaign finance violations could find their way to "the doorsteps of the White House."
