Pennsylvania – A 46-year-old female attempted to commit suicide Friday morning at the SEPTA subway station at 40th and Market streets, Philadelphia Police Department officials said. The woman — who was unaffiliated with the University of Pennsylvania — jumped in front of the eastbound Market-Frankford train at about 11 a.m. Philadelphia Police received a radio call at 11:44 a.m., and SEPTA, Philadelphia and Penn Police and the Philadelphia Fire Department responded to the incident. The victim was trapped under the train and freed at 12:10 p.m. by the Fire Department. She was transported to the Hospital of the University of […]
GAMBLOR: Send Lawyers, Guns And Money!
DAD, GET ME OUT OF THIS! FROM THE INQUIRER: A ballot question seeking to exclude casinos from residential areas cannot be stopped by court action, City Solicitor Romulo L. Diaz Jr. has advised Mayor Street. Diaz said that if the ballot initiative approved unanimously by Council last week is passed by city voters on May 15, it will eventually be voided by the courts because state law takes precedence over city codes. Nevertheless, Diaz wrote Friday in a memo to Street, he cannot prevent the proposed amendment to the city charter from being voted on in the May primary election. […]
FIGHT CITY HALL: Vern Anastasio 1, Frank DiCicco 0
[Hat tip to da Wook, HOLLA!]
THE MICHAEL SMERCONISH EXPLAINER: Wiping The Smirk Off Mr. Clean With The Dirty Rag Of Truth
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Michael Smerconish looks like Mr. Clean, or, as he is known to Russian housewives, Mr. Proper. Michael Smerconish is also a country club Republican, a talk-radio host and, as of late, a regular fixture of the Inquirer’s Sunday Op-Ed page. Bully for him, we’re all for equal time and open debate even if we think he has his head up his ass most of the time. Sadly, because of guys like Smerconish — Machiavellian media climbers that will say ANYTHING to ensure their butt space in the game of musical chairs that is the talking head punditocracy […]
MOVIE REVIEW: MAFIOSO
(1962, directed by Alberto Lattuada, 105 min., Italy) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC There was quite a lot of grumbling last year over the fact that many critics listed Jean-Pierre Melville‘s 1969 war film Army of Shadows as the best film of 2006, as it was getting its first U.S. screenings 37 years after it was made. Resurrected by the small distributor Rialto Pictures and it honestly was like nothing else seen in theaters last year. This year, Rialto is setting its hopes on another forgotten gem, Alberto Lattuada’s 1962 tragic-comedy Mafioso. While it’s not as stylistically daring as the […]
MEDIA: End Of The World As We Know It & I Feel Fine
BY Carla Marinucci, San Francisco Chronicle Political Writer It may be the most stunning and creative attack ad yet for a 2008 presidential candidate — one experts say could represent a watershed moment in 21st century media and political advertising. Yet the groundbreaking 74-second pitch for Democratic Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, which remixes the classic “1984” ad that introduced Apple computers to the world, is not on cable or network TV, but on the Internet. And Obama’s campaign says it had absolutely nothing to do with the video that attacks one of his principal Democratic rivals, New York Sen. Hillary […]
MAILBAG: Postcard From Rome
dear johnathan how are you?how has been philly in the cold cold winter?Rome wasn’t so cold…I’m writing to you to let you know that i’m coming back to philly on the 20th and that i’m gonna stay for a while and that i would really like to continue my collaboration with you.and speaking which i have an interview with Chris Leo from Vague Angels(and also the Van Pelt,The Lapse etc)ready if you are interested i can send it to you instantly just let me know. coming back on the 20th looking forward to meet you and the other phawker people […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Blackwater USA is a secret army based in North Carolina with a sole owner: Erik Prince, a radical right-wing Christian multimillionaire. Jeremy Scahill talks about his book Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. From THE NATION, Oct. 10, 2005: The men from Blackwater USA arrived in New Orleans right after Katrina hit. The company known for its private security work guarding senior US diplomats in Iraq beat the federal government and most aid organizations to the scene in another devastated Gulf. About 150 heavily armed Blackwater troops dressed in full battle gear spread out […]
GUNCRAZY: Number 84 Bagged Near City Hall
A Kensington man died early this morning after being shot several times on a subway concourse near Philadelphia City Hall. The shooting took place just before 2 a.m. near 15th Street and JFK Boulevard. Kenny Philogene, 22, of the 3100 block of Arbor Street, was found shot in the chest, stomach and left shoulder, police said. He was pronounced dead about a half-hour later at Hahnemann University Hospital. The homicide was the city’s 84th this year. [Via the Inquirer]
GOOD DEED: 300 St. Joe Students Spring Break In Appalachia, Raising Barns And Downing Jello Shots
MORE THAN 300 students from St. Joseph’s University spent their spring break not in Cancun but working to repair and paint decaying houses in Appalachia.There they found that poverty isn’t only an urban affliction. Indeed, they learned that rural poverty has some of the same roots as living poor in North Philadelphia, as a St. Joe’s sociology professor put it. They also learned how to square-dance. Paul Staats, 21, a junior, who helped reshingle an elderly woman’s house and refloor a kitchen in Grundy, Va., said the townspeople were “very welcoming. We never felt like we were intruding. “I just […]
VOX POPULI: Killing And Maiming Foreigners In Their Own Country Not Nearly As Popular As It Once Was
AP: BAGHDAD – Sunni insurgents, resilient despite the five-week security crackdown in the Iraqi capital, killed at least six more U.S. troops over the weekend.
POGUE MAHONE: Live From St. Paddy’s Day
This man will be covering the Mayor’s race for Phawker. His name is Shawn Kilroy and, no, he doesn’t know any better. In the coming weeks he will be doing a series of live remotes from various campaign events. All on his own, he decided to go out and do a little practicing on drunks the Irish. Hence, this clip. Enjoy.