[PHOTO SOURCE: Google Images] INQUIRER: A multi-million dollar marijuana ring has been reduced to ashes with the the seizure of 500 pounds of cannibis cannabis and the arrests of two men with ties to the Philadelphia region, authorities said. The men, who will be identified at a press conference later this morning, are accused of shipping “bales” of the weed to Delaware County for distribution around Philadelphia. Investigators have valued the captured marijuana at $2 million. In Folcroft Township on Thursday, state and federal agents seized a crate packed with 220 pounds of potent pot that had been shipped from […]
WORTH REPEATING: The Best Batman Movie Review As National Security Critique We Have Ever Read
BY SPENCER ACKERMAN FOR THE WASHINGTON INDEPENDENT The thought of Vice President Dick Cheney in a form-fitting bat costume might be too much for most people to bear. But the concepts of security and danger presented in Christopher Nolan’s new Batman epic, “The Dark Knight,” align so perfectly with those of the Office of the Vice President that David Addington, Cheney’s chief of staff and former legal counsel, might be an uncredited script doctor. Insofar as it’s possible to view an action movie that had the biggest three-day-opening in cinematic history as a comment on the current national-security debate, “The […]
BREAKING: Feds Slap Mendte With Snooping Felony, Ex-Anchor Looking At Zero To Six Months In Jail
INQUIRER: Former CBS3 anchor Larry Mendte was charged today with hacking into the personal e-mail of onetime colleague Alycia Lane 537 times from January to May of this year and sharing the information with a Philadelphia Daily News reporter. “This case … went well beyond just reading someone’s e-mail,” said a statement from acting U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid, who charged Mendte, 51, in an information with one felony count. He is not expected to surrender today. Mendte poked into the accounts from his seat at the CBS3 anchor desk, from his vacation home and even once from a computer at […]
BREAKING: Liz Phair To Perform Guyville At TLA
In celebration of the 15th year anniversary of the groundbreaking album Exile in Guyville and its reissue by ATO Records, Liz Phair will perform the entire album at three engagements: August 27 at Theater of the Living Arts in Philadelphia; August 28 at 9:30 Club in Washington DC; and August 29 at The Paradise in Boston. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, July 23 via Ticketmaster.
TRUCKSTOP: The Best Meals On Four Wheels
BY AARON STELLA Welcome my fellow hungry Americans to another edition of Truck Stop, where each week we’ll visit street vendors in different parts of Philadelphia to assist the common wayfarer in their travels and grub scavenging. Hey, don’t give me that look — if you ain’t too proud to get your news off the Internet, then you probably ain’t too proud to eat sushi off a truck. This week: the University City area, so whether you’re ambling around Drexel or Upenn, or just on your daily commute through 30th street station, this one’s for you. DENISE’S SOUL FOOD RESTAURANT: […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR The Dark Knight lived up to its hype. The latest installment in the Batman film series set records with its opening weekend, taking in an estimated $155 million at the box office. Spider-Man 3 previously held the record, taking in $151 million last year. Director and screenwriter Christopher Nolan and actor Christian Bale are two of the driving forces behind the blockbuster’s success. The Dark Knight is the third collaboration for the pair, who previously worked together on Batman Begins and the dueling-illusionists thriller The Prestige. Nolan first made a name for himself with the Oscar-nominated low-budget hit […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
Pitchfork Music Festival, Union Park, Chicago, Sunday [Photos by TIFFANY YOON] PREVIOUSLY: More pix and our Pitchfork Fest Diary
THIS JUST IN: Obama In Iraq
WASHINGTON POST: Obama landed first in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, where the Iraqi army, with support from British and U.S. troops, has recently wrested control from extremist militias. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee did not venture into the city proper, where about 30,000 Iraqi soldiers patrol the streets to keep insurgents at bay. Instead, he remained at the British military base outside town, near the airport, and met with top British, Iraqi and U.S. officials from the region. Officials said Obama–part of a congressional delegation that also includes fellow senators and Iraq war critics Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and […]
DUBIOUS ACHIEVEMENT: Plastic Fantastic MILFs
According to the website of Michael Salzhauer, a board certified plastic surgeon, My Beautiful Mommy, a children’s book designed to teach youngsters why mommy came home from the doctor with bruises on her nose and tummy, is “a must-have for any mother with young children considering plastic surgery.” Newsweek did a story prior to the book’s release, featuring a 29-year-old mother, Gabriela Acosta, whose weight ballooned from 115 pounds to 196 after birthing her now nine-year-old son, Junior Acosta. Even after Gabriela lost the weight, she was left with “stretched, saggy skin.” Plastic surgery crossed her mind, but she was […]
NEWS CLUES: Like A Post-BBQ Beatdown Of The Truth
Shyamalan To Shoot Next Flick At Soon-To-Be-Built Phillywood Studio GROUNDBREAKING on an $85 million Hollywood-style movie-production studio in Delaware County won’t begin for at least a couple months, but one director already wants to shoot his next film there: M. Night Shyamalan. The studio’s developers – Philadelphia real-estate attorney Jeffrey Rotwitt and Santa Monica, Calif.-based Pacifica Ventures – say they could be only days away from securing crucial tax breaks. Their Sun Center Studios would be built in Chester Township on the 33-acre site of the Tri-State Sports complex. They also are in advanced negotiations with Paramount Pictures – which […]
KILLADELPHIA: 9 Shootings, 9 Wounded, 2 Dead
INQUIRER: Philadelphia police yesterday found the bullet-riddled body of a 21-year-old man who was sitting inside a car parked in the driveway of a home in West Philadelphia. Sgt. William Gallagher identified the man as Raheem Ellis and said he lived near 1400 N. 56th St., where his body was found around 2 a.m. Police were called after receiving a report of shots being fired. Ellis was shot multiple times with a 9mm handgun, police said. He was pronounced dead at Hahnemann University Hospital. An unidentified woman in her 40s was found shot to death in Southwest Philadelphia this morning, […]
DUBIOUS ACHIEVEMENT: Hannity Paid $100 Million To Mislead Listening Public About Reality’s Liberal Bias
MEDIA WEEK: Hannity’s contract with ABC Radio Networks expired recently and rumors have been swirling every since. For Premiere, grabbing Hannity gives the radio network a blockbuster afternoon Talk block beginning with Rush Limbaugh at Noon, followed by Hannity at 3 p.m. After paying dearly for the ABC properties, Citadel has been struggling to pay down $2 billion in debt in a historically soft radio ad environment. It needed Hannity, especially since network radio is outperforming a very soft radio market. While Limbaugh reportedly got a $400 million contract over eight years with Premiere, Hannity’s was somewhat less, about $100 […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
LIVE AND DIRECT: Pitchfork Music Festival, Union Park, Chicago, Illinois TEXT & PHOTOS BY TIFFANY YOON It’s day one here in beautiful Chicago. After driving from one Marriott hotel to another, hoping one of them was ours, we finally pulled into our hotel parking lot sometime around 4am. We were meeting friends that hooked us up with a cheap deal at a Marriott hotel (one of the guys works at a Marriott in Philadelphia) and we were supposed to rendezvous with them at the hotel sometime around 8pm the night before. We had some complications along the way, the driver […]