BY PETER MUCHA/INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Inquirer columnist Stephen A. Smith is due to resume his career as a reporter, where he made his name as a beat writer for the Sixers and the NBA. William K. Marimow, the newspaper’s top editor, said this morning: “Stephen A. Smith is an excellent reporter. He’s got a huge reservoir of sources in the sports world, and we want him to return to reporting.” Marimow declined further comment. * PHAWKER EXCLUSIVE: Stephen A. Smith Stripped Of Inquirer Column
REVEALED: White House Handbook For Squelching Public Protest At Bush Public Appearances
BY PETER BAKER/WASHINGTON POST STAFF WRITER Not that they’re worried or anything. But the White House evidently leaves little to chance when it comes to protests within eyesight of the president. As in, it doesn’t want any. A White House manual that came to light recently gives presidential advance staffers extensive instructions in the art of “deterring potential protestors” from President Bush’s public appearances around the country. Among other things, any event must be open only to those with tickets tightly controlled by organizers. Those entering must be screened in case they are hiding secret signs. Any anti-Bush demonstrators who […]
MYSTERY TRAMP: I’m Not There
Todd Haynes’ speculative fiction/magical-thinking Dylan biopic, set for release November 21st. NEW YORK TIMES: Imagine you’re a film distributor, handling an experimental movie by one of the country’s most iconoclastic directors. The subject is an enigmatic occasional recluse who is being portrayed by four actors, an actress and a 13-year-old boy. Where do you open that film? If you’re very lucky, you get to book it at Film Forum, perhaps the most exclusive art-house cinema in Manhattan. Now what do you do with a movie that stars Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Christian Bale and Heath Ledger; whose subject is Bob […]
BREAKING: After 43 Years, Harper Lee Speaks!
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Pulitzer Prize-winning author Harper Lee is a woman of few words and generally avoids media interviews and public appearances. But the author of “To Kill a Mockingbird” broke her silence briefly Monday at a ceremony inducting four new members, including former home-run king Hank Aaron, into the Alabama Academy of Honor. Lee, who lives in Monroeville, is a member of the academy, which honors living Alabamians, and was in the audience for Monday’s ceremony. At the end of the ceremony, Academy of Honor chairman Tom Carruthers joked with Lee, saying he knew she had something she wanted to […]
Raging Against The Right-Wing Noise Machine
[Video: rage against the machine vs fox news] “A couple of months ago, those fascist motherfuckers at the Fox News Network attempted to pin this band into a corner by suggesting that we said that the president should be assassinated. Nah, what we said was that he should be brought to trial as war criminal and hung and shot. THAT’S what we said. And we don’t back away from the position because the real assassinator is Bush and Cheney and the whole administration for the lives they have destroyed here and in Iraq. They’re the ones. And what they refused […]
REQUIRED READING: The God Bullies
The Politics of God* *Quite possibly the most important magazine article you will read in the next 50 years BY MARK LILLA/NEW YORK TIMES Published: August 19, 2007 I. “The Will of God Will Prevail” The twilight of the idols has been postponed. For more than two centuries, from the American and French Revolutions to the collapse of Soviet Communism, world politics revolved around eminently political problems. War and revolution, class and social justice, race and national identity — these were the questions that divided us. Today, we have progressed to the point where our problems again resemble those of […]
BREAKING: Eddie Griffin, Ex-Roman Catholic High All-Star, Drives SUV Into Oncoming Freight Train
Eddie Griffin (May 30, 1982 — August 17, 2007) was an American professional basketball player. The Harris County Medical Examiner’s office has identified former Rockets power forward Eddie Griffin as the man who died when the SUV he was driving plowed into a moving train in southeast Houston last week. Officials said Griffin, 25, drove his Nissan SUV through a railroad crossing barrier, past flashing warning lights and into a moving train in the 5300 block of Lawndale about 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 17. The accident remains under investigation by Houston police. Griffin’s vehicle burst into flames on impact with […]
VIET NOW: 14 U.S. Soldiers Killed In Copter Crash
The Associated Press Wednesday, August 22, 2007; 5:08 AM BAGHDAD — A helicopter went down in northern Iraq on Wednesday, killing all 14 U.S. soldiers aboard, the military said, the deadliest crash since January 2005. The military said initial indications showed the aircraft experienced a mechanical problem and was not brought down by hostile fire, but the cause of the crash was still under investigation. A U.S. military helicopter blasts dust as it lands near the site of a suicide truck bombing in the village of Qahtaniya, 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Mosul, Iraq, Sunday, Aug. 19, 2007. More […]
EXCLUSIVE: Stephen A. Smith Stripped Of Column
UPDATE: The Philadelphia Inquirer confirms our story. * Inquirer sports columnist Stephen A. Smith has been stripped of his column and has been offered a job as a general assignment reporter in the Inquirer’s sports department, according to sources inside both the Inquirer and the Daily News. Things reportedly came to a head during a meeting last Friday, when Smith was told of his re-assignment. Smith reportedly told his bosses he would give them an answer when he gets back from vacation in two weeks. In the wake of painful lay-offs and general belt-tightening, Inquirer Editor-in-Chief Bill Marimow has been […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I COCK N’ ROLLED: Velvet Revolver, Camden, Last Night [CLICK FOR SLIDE SHOW] BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER Velvet Revolver is where rock stars go to die. It’s not quite heaven, and it’s not quite hell, but it will do. Perched halfway between artistic rehab and commercial purgatory, and hard rock in a hard place, Velvet Revolver is where empty-nester rockers — people like Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland and pretty much everyone in Guns N Roses not named Axl Rose — go to detox from a life of chemical sin and await […]
CONFIRMED: Amy Winehouse’s U.S. Tour Cancelled
“Due to the rigors involved in touring, Amy Winehouse has been advised to postpone her upcoming September U.S. and Canadian tour dates,” Winehouse‘s publicist Tracy Miller said in a statement. “Amy’s European and U.K. tour dates in October and November remain in place. Plans are being made to reschedule her U.S. tour for early 2008. Until then, Amy has been ordered to rest and is working with medical professionals to address her health.” [NME] PREVIOUSLY: The Daisy Dukes Of Hazard PREVIOUSLY: God Save The Queen CONSOLATION PRIZE: Slide Show From May 4th, 2007 At The Electric Factory [photos by JONATHAN […]
MEDIA: VERY GROOVY BUILDING FOR SALE
Brian Tierney, chief executive officer of Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C., said today that the company would sell the Inquirer Building*, which also houses the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com, and downtown property to reduce debt and reinvest into the company’s media businesses. The company will offer the 18-story building for sale to real estate developers in an offering memorandum mailed nationwide in September. The company also is soliciting in the memorandum ideas for where to put the 950 journalists, ad people, executives, computer technicians, clerks and others who now work in the building, company officials said. The property entails the […]
POLITICS: Congressman Pat Murphy Endorses Obama
WASHINGTON – Rep. Patrick Murphy, a Bucks County Democrat, today endorsed the presidential bid of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. “I believe that Barack Obama is the best chance to change the direction of our country,” Murphy said in a telephone interview. “I’m inspired by his call to action to change how business is done in Washington.” “He is our most inspiring candidate,” said Murphy. As the only Iraq War veteran serving in Congress, Murphy might help to identify Obama as the favorite of voters opposing the war. The freshman senator has attempted to contrast his position against the war with […]