Citizen’s Bank Park, 7:45 PM last night by JEFF FUSCO
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE: Another Teen Mob Rampages In Center City, Beating And Robbing People
PHILLY.COM: A mob of teens [NOT pictured, above] injured at least two people and robbed others during a brief rampage Friday night in Center City, police said. About 9:15 p.m., police started receiving 911 calls of a group of 20 to 40 teens assaulting people. Police found a man on the ground bleeding badly from the head at Walnut and Juniper Streets. He was transported to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.A street robbery was reported at 16th and Spruce Streets, police said. An iPhone was taken in that or another robbery. A man was assaulted at 15th and Sansom Streets, police […]
Schoolly D Not Happy To Find His Lyrics Inside Norwegian Psycho Killer’s 1,500 Page Rant
Deep inside Anders Breivik’s 1,400 page ‘manifesto’, “2083: A European Declaration of Independence,” in between all the raging Islamophobia, pathological nativism, and bomb-making instructions, the man who killed 77 innocent, unarmed people in cold blood, warns readers of the negative effect that gangsta rap lyrics have on society. In section 2.67 of the PDF version, Breivik includes a slightly bastardized version of John P McWhorter‘s 2003 anti-rap diatribe How Hip-Hop Holds Blacks Back, which singles out a few of the most sensational lines from Schoolly D’s proto-gangsta rap “PSK What Does It Mean?” to illustrate the toxicity of hip-hop: Copped […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Tea Party Is A Boehner Killer
[By KAL via THE ECONOMIST] BY WILLIAM C. HENRY “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” If Shakespeare was indeed correct—and I find no “earthly” reason to question his insight—you can expect to find those words displayed in bright neon lights above the graves of Boehner, Cantor & Ilk, followed by a blinking asterisk informing the faithful that there are empty coffins down below. Yeah, yeah, I know the matter has been pretty much ranted (me included) to death, but I thought I’d give it one last semi-comical college try before […]
CINEMA: When Worlds Collide
ANOTHER EARTH (2011, directed by Mike Cahill, 90 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Another Earth is an under-baked, overly-somber indie drama that attempts to enliven its paper-thin premise with an overlay of spiritual sci-fi. While both the drama and the fantastical elements are under-developed and poorly-executed, this independently-produced Sundance award winner has a deep well of earnestness that gives the film its own unique cock-eyed passion. Like the low-budget Christian-themed films that played the church circuit in the 70s and 80s, Another Earth‘s soggy storytelling may skirt believability yet it casts an odd spell because it believes […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Melissa Febos’ new memoir, Whip Smart, details the four years she spent working as a dominatrix. Febos enacted fantasy sequences, spanked grown men and verbally humiliated them for $75 an hour in a dungeon located somewhere in midtown Manhattan. Febos, who writes that she got started in sex work to pay for a drug habit, tells Terry Gross that working in a dungeon felt like “being in a womb.” “Pretty much all of the dungeons were outfitted with some sort of coat rack-related thing that had all sorts of floggers, riding crops,” she says. “We had giant coils […]
COMING ATTRACTION: Win Death Cab Tix
A chance to win two tix to see Death Cab For Cutie at The Mann next Friday, look for it Monday on a Phawker near you!
THE FLOWERS OF EVIL: Crazy See, Crazy Do
THINK PROGRESS: In his manifesto, Breivik cites an assortment of right-wing figures, but a troubling theme is evident in the 1,500 page document. Breivik was directly influenced by the same cadre of American anti-Muslim activists that have gained a powerful following in the contemporary conservative movement in recent years. Many of the leading Islamophobes who inspired Breivik have also been responsible for a rising tide of hate campaigns, from the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” hysteria to a disturbing trend of demonstrations against Muslim Americans across the country: – Breivik cites neoconservative Islamophobe Frank Gaffney on opposition to Turkey joining the […]
The Colonel Remembers: The Who In South Philly ’68
Coming soon to a Phawker near you.
OK, Let’s Go Through This One More Time: Free Trade Agreements Are Good For American Workers? How?
WASHINGTON POST: At the factory here owned by New Balance, the last major athletic shoe brand to manufacture footwear in the United States, even workers on the shop floor recognize that in purely economic terms, the operation doesn’t make sense. The company could make far more money if, like Nike and Adidas, it shifted virtually all of these jobs to low-wage countries. So employees try working each shift to make it up. Conversations on the shop floor are sparse at best, and the tasks at each work station have been stripped of waste and precisely timed. Workers cut leather for […]
UN-STOP THE PRESSES: If The 2004 Election Was Stolen But Nobody Cares Does It Still Make A Sound?
If true, the last eight years, or at least 2004–20008 would be null and void, triggering a complete meltdown in all three branches of government: legislative (every law signed by POTUS, null and void), executive (every executive order issued by POTUS null and void) and judicial (every supreme court appointment by POTUS and ensuing decision null and void) — chaos that would upend the game in unexpected and radical ways. Which may explain why this story is getting no traction: nobody at the higher levels of the corporate media seems willing to be the one who takes down the house […]
THIS JUST IN: Inquirer Building Sold To Bart Blatstein; No Plans To Move It To Northern Liberties
PHILADELPHIA MEDIA NETWORK: PMN announced today that it entered into an agreement with Tower Investments, Inc., owned by Bart Blatstein, to sell the building that is home to PMN headquarters at 400 North Broad Street, in addition to the sale of an adjacent parking garage and lot. The purchase price is not being disclosed. PMN is exploring options with respect to their future space, including the possibility of remaining at the 400 North Broad Street location or identifying new space in the region. “As Philadelphia Media Network continues its successful digital transformation, the efficient utilization of our assets will be […]
Only YOU Can Stop Fraud, Corruption And Abuse
BY ALEX POTTER Philadelphians for Ethical Leadership, a non-profit group headed by Ben Mannes, a former Washington, D.C. police officer who now lives in Port Richmond, held a meeting last night at the Central Library they called “A Citywide Forum on Public Integrity” hoping “to give citizens a better understanding on what behavior constitutes public corruption, what the contributing factors to public corruption are, who investigate the different types of public integrity issues, and how best to report it.” A panel of two men with pedigrees in rooting out corruption at various levels of government was present to discuss ways […]