This first ran on Phawker back in the late 1960s. Curiously, it seems more relevant today.
KAREN HELLER: Being Vincent J. Fumo
KAREN HELLER: Time for another installment of Fumo Family Values, currently playing in the James A. Byrne Federal Courthouse. Christian Marrone endured his second day yesterday as a prosecution witness in the federal government’s case against Vincent J. Fumo, all 139 counts. Marrone was the state senator’s former special assistant, assigned to the regional office. By special assistant, Fumo meant general contractor, jack of all (building) trades, and e-mail whipping boy – all, argues the government, at the taxpayers’ expense. Marrone is also Fumo’s son-in-law, though to judge by court behavior, any rapport between them is in the past, too. […]
HOT DOCUMENT: London Calling
Subject: attention Jonathan Valania – The Guardian From: richard.adams@guardian.REDACTED Date: Mon, October 27, 2008 8:27 am To: feed@phawker.com —————————— Jonathan – your piece in the Inquirer yesterday was fantastic. We’d like to re-run it on the Guardian‘s op-ed site for the amusement of British people and others. regards, Richard Adams (I’m in the Guardian’s DC bureau) EDITOR’S NOTE: 34,000 54,000 page views, a re-print offer from the GuardianUK, an encouraging word from Josh The Bricklayer (SEE BELOW), more incoherent hate mail than Charlie Manson gets in a year, one death threat, notice that I am officially […]
Christian Science Monitor Will Kill No More Trees
NEW YORK TIMES: After a century of continuous publication, The Christian Science Monitor will abandon its weekday print edition and appear online only, its publisher announced Tuesday. The cost-cutting measure makes The Monitor the first national newspaper to essentially give up on print. The paper is currently published Monday through Friday, and will move to online only in April, although it will also introduce a Sunday magazine. John Yemma, The Monitor’s editor, said that moving to the Web only will mean it can keep its eight foreign bureaus open while still lowering costs. “We have the luxury — the opportunity […]
WORLD SERIES: White Out Tonight
SNOW GO: Parking lot of Chalfont Office Park, a few minutes ago. [Photo by NATHAN SLACK] UPDATE: Tonight’s game cancelled due to weather, re-scheduled for tomorrow night at Citizen’s Bank, 8:37 PM ASSOCIATED PRESS: Winter made an early debut in northeastern Pennsylvania on Tuesday as a storm blanketed parts of the region with several inches of snow, closing schools and causing power outages and road closures. PPL Corp. said more than 25,000 customers lost power. Higher elevations of the Poconos received up to 8 inches of wet snow by Tuesday morning, causing downed trees and power lines, the National Weather […]
MAG: Does John McCain Have A Chappaquiddick?
HUFFPO: For the past two months, a major American magazine and an allied news service have been engaged in a legal battle with the United States Navy over records that they believe show that John McCain once was involved in an automobile accident that injured or, perhaps, killed another individual. Vanity Fair magazine and the National Security News Service claim to have knowledge “developed from first-hand sources” of a car crash that involved then-Lt. McCain at the main gate of a Virginia naval base in 1964, according to legal filings. The incident has been largely, if not entirely, kept from […]
SUSPENSION OF BELIEF: Reign Out
[Photo by STEVE IVES] Looks like we pick it up tomorrow, sixth inning, 2-2. Cute kid-wearing-a-Fanatic-costume pic after the jump…
FILIBUSTED: Ted Stevens Found Guilty On All Counts, Opening Door To A Filibuster-Proof Dem Majority
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens was convicted of seven corruption charges Monday in a trial that tainted the 40-year Senate career of Alaska’s political patriarch. The verdict, coming barely a week before Election Day, added further uncertainty to a closely watched Senate race. Democrats hope to seize the once reliably Republican seat as part of their bid for a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Stevens, 84, was convicted of all the charges he faced of lying about free home renovations and other gifts from a wealthy oil contractor. Jurors began deliberating last week. MORE DAILY KOS: Alaska disqualifies felons […]
DEATH OF PRINT: Inquirer Circulation Plunges In The Wake Of Outrageous Phawker Guest Editorial
EDITOR & PUBLISHER: For those holding out for some improvement in print circulation, this morning brings disappointment. The Audit Bureau of Circulations released the latest figures for the six- month period ending September 2008 and the report shows major drops in circulation at the big metros. According to ABC for the 507 newspapers reporting in this period, daily circulation slipped 4.6% to 38,165,848 copies. For the 571 papers, Sunday dropped 4.8% to 43,631,646 copies. For comparison purposes, in September 2007 reporting period, daily circ fell 2.6% and Sunday was down 4.6%. […] Daily circulation at The Philadelphia Inquirer slipped 11.0% […]
WINNER: Best Halloween Costume
DAILYKOS: So there I was, walking down the street minding my own business. I was sporting both my Obama ’08 baseball cap, and my “McCain + Palin = LIES” button. Suddenly, this short, angry old white guy runs up and punches me in the eye. I was so surprised I fell to the ground. Then he reached down, and using a sharp, yellowed fingernail he carved the letter “M” in my cheek. MORE HUFFINGTON POST: John Moody, executive vice president at Fox News, commented on his blog there that “this incident could become a watershed event in the 11 days […]
50 YEARS LATER: Still Kind Of Blue
DAILY NEWS: LIKE SO MANY occasions that turn out to be momentous in hindsight, the recording of Miles Davis’ landmark “Kind of Blue” album carried no special aura, no hint of the iconic future in store. “I just figured it was another good Miles Davis record,” shrugged drummer Jimmy Cobb. “Just one that I happened to be on.” It hardly needs to be said that Cobb’s impression is a vast understatement. In the 50 years since its release, “Kind of Blue” has come to be regarded as a landmark, the pinnacle not only of Davis’ output but perhaps of jazz […]
VALLEY OF THE SHADOW: The Badlands
BY JEFF DEENEY Last week’s daylight shooting of multiply convicted drug gang leader Jose “Mostro” Ortiz and the wave of retaliatory carnage unleashed in the Badlands provides an opportunity to share some knowledge I’ve gained about that neighborhood’s inner workings. I learned a little bit about the Badlands both during the time I spent working there in social services (most recently as a school based behavioral health worker in an elementary school not far from the original murder scene) and through conversations with former and active addicts who have recently been involved in the area’s drug culture. Hopefully my contribution […]
KILLADELPHIA: 3 More Dead Since U Went To Bed
INQUIRER: Three overnight slayings capped a bloody weekend in the city as Philadelphia homicide detectives continued to search for shooters who on Thursday gunned down the leader of a North Philadelphia drug gang and his associate. Late Sunday, a 42-year-old man was shot four times shortly after 11 p.m. on the 1000 block of Pallas Street in West Philadelphia. The man, who has not been named by police, was pronounced dead at 5:23 a.m. at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Investigators have no motive or suspects in the slaying. Early this morning, a 27-year-old man was shot once […]