We built this city out of bricks

How is it October in two days? As in, how is it already a full month into autumn and O'Hare is reporting a higher temperature than Phoenix?

Meanwhile:

• Incumbent New York City mayor Eric Adams has dropped his re-election bid as polling reveals that most of the city actively despises him. Josh Marshall shrugs, but runs the numbers on a possible victory by former governor Andrew Cuomo.
• Paul Krugman warns that the Republican spending bill the Democrats are currently blocking in the Senate would cause massive increases in everyone's health insurance premiums next year.
• Brian Beutler wants the Democratic Party to pick new, better fights to get people on side, instead of continuing the same focus-group-tested crappy messaging it can't seem to shake.

Finally, if you've ever visited Chicago, you'll know that we have a lot of brick construction here. (In fact, the current Inner Drive Technology World HQ is the first place I've lived in Chicago that didn't use bricks.) It turns out, a guy named Will Quam will give you a guided tour of Chicago's brick structures for a small fee. What would Chuck Rainey say?