SAMANTHA TAYLOR, WHARTON GRADUATE 2012: You have all these anti-establishment, “mad at the man” hipsters running around leading this movement when in reality they are living off of plush trust funds funded by the establishment that they’re so mad at. Many of them need to go occupy the homes in which they grew up, nestled in the safe, upper middle class suburbs of America. Why don’t they occupy the Apple store, or are they too afraid of not having the newest stylish Mac to pose with at the local coffee shop? While the dispersion of wealth in America is no […]
EARLY WORD: ‘We’re All Scott Olsen Now’
RELATED: The incidents in Oakland last week have only emboldened Occupiers in major cities around the country. Last Tuesday, police drove occupiers out of their encampment in the Bay Area at 5 a.m., sending thousands scattering around town, with nowhere to go, but plenty to shout about. The next phase of this rude awakening was a city-wide scourge in which demonstrators allegedly threw bottles and splashed paint on police officers and officers in return fired 37mm tear gas containers into the crowd, wounding young Iraq war veteran. OccupyOakland responded by calling for a citywide strike today. In solidarity, OccupyPhilly is […]
Gold Seller Glenn Beck Peddles Charged With Fraud
ABC NEWS: Goldline, a company that used endorsements from Glenn Beck and other conservative icons to sell hundreds of millions of dollars to consumers, has been charged with theft and fraud in a 19-count criminal complaint filed Tuesday by local officials in California. The criminal complaint filed Tuesday by the Santa Monica City Attorney’s consumer protection unit marks the latest in a series of allegations it has leveled against the gold dealer, which pioneered the practice of weaving its sales pitches into broadcasts by popular conservative political personalities — including two former presidential candidates — to sell hundreds of millions […]
WORTH REPEATING: The Transfiguration Of Steve
[Illustrations by ALEX FINE] NEW YORK TIMES: Death didn’t happen to Steve, he achieved it. He told me, when he was saying goodbye and telling me he was sorry, so sorry we wouldn’t be able to be old together as we’d always planned, that he was going to a better place. Dr. Fischer gave him a 50/50 chance of making it through the night. He made it through the night, Laurene next to him on the bed sometimes jerked up when there was a longer pause between his breaths. She and I looked at each other, then he would heave […]
DUFFY’S CUT: Dead Men Will Tell No More Tales
ASSOCIATED PRESS: The location of the mass grave remained elusive until recent weeks. A radar survey of the land beneath the stone monument a few years ago yielded nothing, so the Watsons assumed the marker was inaccurate. But geophysicist Tim Bechtel recently used more sophisticated techniques, including electrical imaging and seismic surveys, to conclude the ossuary is likely near the monument after all — but 30 feet below the surface. It’s also on Amtrak property. The rail company will not permit any digging because of its proximity to the tracks, spokeswoman Danelle Hunter said. “I don’t blame them for not […]
PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: One Year Of Prison Costs More Than One Year Of Princeton
[SOURCE: Public Information] WALL STREET JOURNAL: The almost-constant growth of the U.S. prison population during the past 30 years has pushed the number of people behind bars past a new threshold, according to a study released yesterday.With more than 2.3 million people in local jails and state and federal prisons, more than 1% of the U.S. adult population is locked up, according to the Pew Center on the States. The rate is the highest in the world, and the statistics are starker for some groups. More than 11% of the nation’s African-American men ages 20 to 34 are behind bars, […]
SIDEWALKING: Seasons Greetings
Third & Chestnut, 9:38 PM last night BY JONATHAN VALANIA
Wharton MBAs Respond To #OccupyPhilly Protest
SAMANTHA TAYLOR, WHARTON GRADUATE 2012: You have all these anti-establishment, “mad at the man” hipsters running around leading this movement when in reality they are living off of plush trust funds funded by the establishment that they’re so mad at. Many of them need to go occupy the homes in which they grew up, nestled in the safe, upper middle class suburbs of America. Why don’t they occupy the Apple store, or are they too afraid of not having the newest stylish Mac to pose with at the local coffee shop? While the dispersion of wealth in America is no […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: The Man Who Howled Wolf
FRESH AIR: Bad As Me, Waits’ 20th album, references the people he normally sings about: loners, losers, drunks and eccentrics. The “poet of outcasts,” as The New York Times once called Waits, romanticizes loneliness, the city of Chicago, death and love, among other topics. The album also pays homage to some of Waits’ favorite singers, including James Brown, Peggy Lee and Howlin’ Wolf. “I’ve always looked to [Wolf] for guidance, and probably always will,” Waits says. “He does have a voice that is otherworldly. It should be in a time capsule somewhere. When you’re a kid and you’re trying to […]
EARLY WORD: Saints Be Praised
Saint Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419), was a missionary and logician. Annie Clark (1982- ), the American singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist who goes by the name St. Vincent, brings a missionary zeal to her current status as indie’s ambassador of goodwill from The Other Side. Likewise, despite all its head-spinning detours and U-turns, her music follows the pristine logic of a flowchart. Such was the case Thursday night when St. Vincent stunned a near-capacity crowd in the sweaty basement of the First Unitarian Church with a flawless recreation of selections from Actor, her just-released and deservedly hyped sophomore collection of otherworldly, asymmetrical pop. Clark plays […]
VISUALIZATION: How Earth Got 7 Billion Guests
EZRA KLEIN: A lot of the commentary surrounding the fact that the world’s 7 billionth baby will soon start mewling has suggested that there are “too many” people for the Earth to handle. But context matters. It’s true that seven billion people all using the same amount of energy and raw materials as the average American would utterly demolish the planet’s carrying capacity. But if we can either curb our consumption or learn to use resources more efficiently — so that everyone consumes, on average, one-fifth of what Americans do now — then we could, in theory, survive just fine. […]
CRUEL AND USUAL: Law Firm Throws Party To Mock The ‘Bums’ They Threw Out Of Their Homes
NEW YORK TIMES: Let me describe a few of the photos. In one, two Baum employees are dressed like homeless people. One is holding a bottle of liquor. The other has a sign around her neck that reads: “3rd party squatter. I lost my home and I was never served.” My source said that “I was never served” is meant to mock “the typical excuse” of the homeowner trying to evade a foreclosure proceeding. A second picture shows a coffin with a picture of a woman whose eyes have been cut out. A sign on the coffin reads: “Rest in […]
LIFE LESSONS: A Pep Talk For OccupyPhilly
AP TICKER: I’m getting lots of letters about why I haven’t shown my face at any of the Occupy Philly protests. I wholeheartedly, endorse and support their endeavors and while I talk a good game about revolution and overthrow of this plutocracy, the sad truth of the matter is……..I’m a very very lazy man. As I have said many times before, my favorite hobbies are as follows, lying on my couch and being very very quiet. I and my couch bound brethren, represent a subset of The Greatest Generation that I have coined “The Lazy Generation” This true silent majority […]