Authorities in Montgomery County, Pa. have now filed charges against a former student at Upper Merion High School who they say sent threatening Internet messages to students and then showed up at the school last week (see related story). The charges against 19-year-old Thomas Musetti include making terroristic threats and reckless endangerment. Court papers reveal that Musetti sent instant messages saying he was seeking revenge against everyone and was trying to get a gun. “He was operating under a screen name, ‘Icecoldveins4u.’ He made threatening references involving other people, involving Graduation Day, and referencing some very horrifying events we are […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Josh Rushing was a Marine Corps media liaison at Central Command, or Centcom, in the early days of the Iraq war. His job was to represent the Marines to the worldwide media covering the war in Iraq, including the Arab TV network Al-Jazeera, and he was featured in the documentary Control Room. After retiring from the Marines he took a job as a correspondent with Al-Jazeera, reporting from Washington D.C. His new memoir is Mission Al Jazeera: Build a Bridge, Seek the Truth, Change the World. RADIO TIMES Hour 1 Three former peace negotiators lay out a plan […]
CINEMA: She’s Gotta Have It
Scarlet Diva (2000, directed by Asia Argento, 91 minutes, Italy) Rape (1969, directed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 79 minutes, U.K.) Blonde Ice (1948. directed by Jack Bernhard, 74 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Expanding the definition of what makes a “chick flick,” Andrew’s Video Vault brings to the big screen of The Rotunda a trio of women who are profane, murderous and just plain creepy. First up is Asia Argento’s directorial debut, 2000’s Scarlet Diva. A guaranteed audience divider (its Rotten Tomatoes rating currently at an even 50%) the actress/director stars in a thinly-veiled autobiographical opus […]
Mr. Richard Smoker Meets Hammer Head
An “active user” of a homosexual phone-hookup line made a bad connection when he invited a caller to his Wallingford condominium and was beaten while performing oral sex on a new acquaintance, according to Nether Providence Township Police.”The suspect sits down and the victim provides him with oral sex, but it wasn’t completed before everything stopped when the suspect hit him,” Irey said. “The victim goes down to the ground and looks up and this guy has a hammer.” Afterward, the victim was forced to drive to two ATMs and the assailant was able to remove $200 from the victim’s […]
THE EARLY WORD: Nation Of Ulysses
[Click eye patch to activate Internet]
Fed Judge Dismisses Muslim Cop’s Head Scarf Suit
PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge ruled that the city’s police department did not violate the civil rights of a Muslim officer when it forbade her from wearing a head scarf on the job. Kimberlie Webb, 44, who has been on the force more than 10 years, filed a discrimination lawsuit in October 2005 after the department said she could not wear a khimar at work because the religious symbol violated uniform regulations. U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III on Tuesday sided with the city and dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that the police department did not discriminate or retaliate against Webb. […]
Nanny-Basher To Stand Trial For Bashing Nanny
BY KATHY BOCCELLA OF THE INQUIRER Susan Tabas Tepper, [NOT pictured] the Main Line millionaire accused of attacking her nanny in a rage over unfinished chores last month, waived a hearing on simple assault and harassment charges today and will face trial on Aug. 8 in Montgomery County Court.The Villanova banking and hotel heiress smiled as she arrived at the District Justice office in Narberth in handcuffs. She is currently in Montgomery County prison, where she has been held since May 23 on charges she violated her probation stemming from a Feb. 26 assault conviction. Tepper, 44, looked pale and […]
BOOKS: Q&A With Ant Farmer Simon Rich
BY MAVIS LINNEMANN BOOK CRITIC All too often reviewers say a book is “laugh-out-loud funny,” but when you finally read it, it’s about as funny as child abuse. That’s not the case with Simon Rich‘s Ant Farm: And Other Desperate Situations. The book’s super-short vignettes and mini-dialogues had me howling in my subway seat, much to the consternation of the other morning commuters. Only 22-years-old and freshly graduated from Harvard, Rich (son of New York Times columnist Frank Rich) will no doubt be tickling the short-attention span funny bones of Generations Y & Z for years to come. Recently he […]
Jack White Explains Why Button Is So Hard To Button
A group of Chelsea Pensioners attending a concert by The White Stripes, left, at the Royal Chelsea Hospital in central London Tuesday June 12, 2007. The White Stripes won some new fans Tuesday during an intimate and unusual gig at a home for elderly British military veterans. (AP Photo/Andy Willsher) [via WASHINGTON POST] NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO: ICKY THUMP
BIG DIG: All Men Are Created Equal — Eventually
BY RICK MORAN In 1789, Congress was charged with the difficult task of locating a Capitol city that would satisfy the concerns of the two sections, north and south. The current Capitol of New York was deemed unacceptable by most — except New Yorkers for the most part. Congress had earlier carved out some land near Trenton, New Jersey to serve as the Capitol but southerners put their foot down and refused to appropriate any monies to build anything on the site. The Senate compromised by moving the Capitol to Philadelphia following the second session of the new Congress while […]
VERDICT: Match.com Rohypnotist Guilty Of Sex Assault
A Common Pleas Court jury today found Jeffrey Marsalis — accused of drugging and raping seven women whom he met on Match.com — guilty of two counts of sexual assault and not guilty on five other counts. The jurors failed to reach a verdict on one count of rape. The jury of eight women and four men began deliberating last Thursday after 2 ? weeks of testimony highlighted by the appearances of the seven women who accused Marsalis, 34, of drugging and raping them. The assaults occurred from 2003 to 2005, they said. Marsalis was found not guilty on the […]
THE EARLY WORD: We’ve Got Levitation
WHOLE LOTTA SHAKIN’: The Woggles perform tonight at the North Star Bar. The Woggles are a garage band in the wooly, frat-rock party-animal tradition of ’60s bands like the Sonics. All the songs sound like steroid-fed mash-ups of “Louie, Louie” and “Shout,” and on a good night, it’s all you can do not to stand up between songs and shout, “Otis! My man!” Based in Atlanta, the Woggles are fronted by a Don Imus lookalike named Manfred Jones, who, on this night, is hands down the hardest-working man in garage rock. By the second song his sweat-soaked black tuxedo shirt […]
MEDIA: INTERNET KILLED THE TV NEWS STAR
“We’re all pretty convinced that news doesn’t break on TV anymore,” said Eric Bader, senior VP-managing director of digital connections at MediaVest. “Almost everybody across pretty much every economic and age demographic learns of breaking news online, increasingly on mobile.” And where the viewers go, so do the ad dollars. Since 2003, CNN’s cable revenue has dropped 11%, from $424.2 million to $378.5 million in 2006, while digital revenue has nearly doubled, from $34.8 million to $71.4 million, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Mr. Walton wants to make sure that if the audience is tuning out on cable, it’s tuning in […]