THE GUARDIAN: A leading US conservative magazine, the National Review, has fired a prominent contributor over an online column advising his children to protect themselves by avoiding African Americans, to closely scrutinise black politicians and to accept that white people are more intelligent. John Derbyshire wrote the offending article, The Talk: Nonblack Version, as a response to widespread debate over “the talk” that many African American parents give their teenage sons about racism in America following the shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida. Derbyshire’s column appeared in another publication, Taki’s Magazine, run by the rightwing Greek socialite Taki Theodoracopulos, who […]
SIDEWALKING: Towering Inferno
2411 Kensington Avenue, 4:34 AM, by JOE KACZMAREK RELATED: Two firefighters who were battling a massive blaze at an abandoned warehouse Monday were killed when an adjacent furniture store they were inspecting collapsed, burying them in a pile of debris, authorities said. It took about two hours to extract the bodies of Lt. Robert Neary, 60, and firefighter Daniel Sweeney, 25, because of all the debris, Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said at a news conference. Two other firefighters were rescued and taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. The blaze in the city’s Kensington section started around 3:15 a.m. and […]
SIDEWALKING: Wango Tango
Logan Circle, 6:57 PM Thursday by LINDSAY BROWNING PREVIOUSLY: Last Tango In Philly
RIP: Mike Wallace Had Ways Of Making You Talk
CBS NEWS: Each week, “60 Minutes” viewers could expect the master interviewer to ask the questions they wanted answered by the world’s leaders and headliners. Wallace did not disappoint them, often revealing more than the public ever hoped to see. He got the stoic Ayatollah Khomeini to smile during the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979 when he asked him what he thought about being called “a lunatic” by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. The Ayatollah answered by correctly predicting that Sadat would be assassinated. The same year, Johnny Carson called Wallace “cruel” during an interview after Wallace asked, “It takes one […]
ETERNAL SUNSHINE POP: The Byrds
EDITOR’S NOTE: The first in an occasional and recurring series about the perfect soundtrack for a good day sunshine. ALAN MCGEE: Their second album, Turn! Turn! Turn! continued to fine-tune the pop sensibility. Whenever I hear the title track it always sounds almost perversely economical, somehow too perfect. It seems to state, “This is as far as you can refine a pop song”, and “I can do this standing on my head”. It is hard to imagine a song more instantly engaging than Turn! Turn! Turn! It always rings like a bell through any background noise and conveys its sentiment […]
BAD COMPANY: Coke, Pepsi & Kraft Quitting ALEC
[Artwork and animation by MARK FIORE] REUTERS: Coca-Cola Co is dropping its membership in a conservative national advocacy group that supports “Stand Your Ground” laws such as the one being used as a defense in the Florida killing of an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin. The move by the world’s biggest soft drink maker comes as corporate America faces increased scrutiny from consumers and shareholder activists over lobbying and political spending. PepsiCo Inc ended its relationship with the group – the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) – in January. In a statement on Thursday, Coca-Cola made no direct mention of […]
FOOD INC.: Chicken, The Other Fright Meat
[Artwork by CRYSTAL GONZALEZ] NEW YORK TIMES: My topic today is a pair of new scientific studies suggesting that poultry on factory farms are routinely fed caffeine, active ingredients of Tylenol and Benadryl, banned antibiotics and even arsenic. “We were kind of floored,” said Keeve E. Nachman, a co-author of both studies and a scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Center for a Livable Future. “It’s unbelievable what we found.” He said that the researchers had intended to test only for antibiotics. But assays for other chemicals and pharmaceuticals didn’t cost extra, so researchers asked for those results as well. […]
JACK WHITE: Sixteen Saltines
NEW YORK TIMES: In an industrial section of south-central Nashville, stuck between a homeless shelter and some railroad tracks, sits a little primary-colored Lego-block of a building with a Tesla tower on top. The inside holds all manner of curiosities and wonders — secret passageways, trompe l’oeil floors, the mounted heads of various exotic ungulates (a bison, a giraffe, a Himalayan tahr) as well as a sign on the wall that says photography is prohibited. This is the home of Third Man Records: the headquarters of Jack White’s various musical enterprises, and the center of his carefully curated world. “When […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: High Noonan
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY On March 31st Peggy Noonan authored a piece for the Wall Street Journal entitled “Not-So-Smooth Operator” in which she feebly attempted to articulate her opinion(s) as to why President Obama was increasingly coming across as devious and dishonest. Well, Peggy, all I can say is — and, trust me, there are a multitude of things about this administration with which even I take exception — that after reading it I have come to the inescapable conclusion that America should finally grant you the recognition you so richly deserve as one of this country’s most cognitive and astute judges […]
MUST SEE TV: Being Ryan Gosling
NMA: Movie star Ryan Gosling saved British writer Laurie Penny from an oncoming car when she stepped out blindly into New York City traffic Tuesday. “Ryan Gosling grabbed me away from a taxi,” Penny tweeted that evening. She said she looked the wrong way before crossing the street because she is accustomed to traffic flowing in the opposite direction in London. Penny has apparently been inundated with press requests following the incident. She claims she is turning down interviews, choosing to instead address the hoopla via a Gawker blog post Wednesday. GAWKER: Everybody needs to calm down about Ryan Gosling […]
TINARIWEN & FLEA: Cler Achel
RELATED: Tinariwen was founded by Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, who at age four witnessed the execution of his father (a Tuareg rebel) during a 1963 uprising in Mali. As a child he saw a western film in which a cowboy played a guitar. Ag Alhabib built his own guitar out of a tin can, a stick and bicycle brake wire. He started to play old Tuareg and modern Arabic pop tunes.[citation needed] Ag Alhabib first lived in refugee camps and later resided with other Tuareg exiles in Libya and Algeria. In the late 1970s Ag Alhabib joined with other musicians in […]
EARLY WORD: People Are Strange
JON FOY, DIRECTOR, RESURRECT DEAD: While most people associate [Resurrect The Dead star] Justin Duerr with the Toynbee tiles, I’ve been a long-time admirer of Justin’s unmistakable style of art for many years before we shot the movie. It was all over West Philly on records, shirts, show flyers, and wheat-pastes, and despite this he’s been one of the city’s best kept secrets.With the movie’s wide release, I’m hoping it leads many more people to discover Justin’s talents. The exhibit includes the largest collection of Justin’s work ever assembled in one place. These two free screenings are intended to introduce […]