TODAY I SAW…

BY JEFF DEENEY “Today I saw…” is a series of nonfiction shorts based on my experiences as a caseworker serving formerly homeless families now living in North and West Philadelphia. I decided not long after starting the job that I was seeing so many fascinating and disturbing things in the city’s poorest neighborhoods that I needed to start cataloging them. I hope this bi-weekly column serves as a record of a side of the city that many Philadelphians don’t come in contact with on a daily basis. I want to capture moments not frequently covered by the local media, which […]

Cover Wars: Whose Artfag Kung-Fu Is Stronger?

Today we are handing out nothing but lollipops and sunshine, because EVERYBODY wins this week! To wit, simultaneously strong cover art and, rarer still, strong-ass cover stories from both CP and PW this week. And in a curious coincidence, both tackle the drug issue from intriguing angles. CP’s Jeff Deeney reminds us that a fool and his coke whore are soon parted, especially when you rack up $16,000 on your credit card. (Here’s an idea: how about you find a girlfriend and buy a case of Red Bull instead, hmmm?) Yeah, the story states the obvious, but readers LOVE following […]

AMERIKA: This Is What A Police State Looks Like

GLENN GREENWALD: The now-viral video of police officers in their Robocop costumes sadistically pepper-spraying peaceful, sitting protesters at UC-Davis (details here) shows a police state in its pure form. It’s easy to be outraged by this incident as though it’s some sort of shocking aberration, but that is exactly what it is not. The Atlantic‘s Garance Franke-Ruta adeptly demonstrates with an assemblage of video how common such excessive police force has been in response to the Occupy protests. Along those lines, there are several points to note about this incident and what it reflects…MORE BOING BOING: Lt. Jon Pike sprayed […]

#OCCUPATION: Bloomberg Blinks, Backs Off Eviction

WASHINGTON POST: Despite city officials announcing a planned cleanup of Zuccotti Park had been canceled, some violence bubbled up in lower Manhattan on Friday morning. After the private owners granted the protesters reprieve from an order to leave the park, some protesters chose to march through the streets in celebration. Police asked protesters to stay on the sidewalk, but when they didn’t, a v-formation of police scooters drove through the crowd, running over one National Lawyers Guild observer. CBS Local News station reports that violence broke out after the man went down. Police told CBS that the reaction was prompted by […]