WASHINGTON POST: The power struggle between Egypt’s would-be revolutionaries and its defiant ruler wobbled to a standstill Monday as both sides girded for a prolonged test of wills that could shape the political future of the Arab world. President Hosni Mubarak sought to defuse a mass revolt against his 30-year reign by offering further concessions to an opposition movement that continued to jam Cairo’s central Tahrir Square with tens of thousands of protesters. Reports of arrests and clashes with security forces, meanwhile, appeared to ebb, and protesters said Mubarak seemed to be trying to split the opposition by compromising on […]
NEW LOW: Pregnant Woman Beaten To Death
DAILY NEWS: Tovoyia Owens, 21, left the court shortly before 2 p.m. with a man who is believed to have been her boyfriend. They “got into a physical altercation with two other males,” Clark said, and Owens was knocked unconscious. She died at Hahnemann University Hospital shortly after 3 p.m. MORE NBC PHILADELPHIA: Tovoyia Owens, a mother to a three-year-old girl, and her current boyfriend were leaving the courthouse at 800 Spring Garden St. when they had some sort of altercation with an ex-boyfriend and a group of men just before 2 p.m., sources said. Witnesses said that about five men attacked Owens in front […]
SPLITSVILLE: Rendells Announce Separation
PHILLY CLOUT: Gov. Rendell and his wife, U.S. Appellate Judge Marjorie “Midge” Rendell, announced in an e-mail to friends today that they will be “living separately” now that they have left the Governor’s Mansion in Harrisburg. But don’t let that prevent anyone from sending them invitations to the same party, the parting couple advised. The split after four decades of marriage is “amicable” and they won’t find it awkward or uncomfortable to socialize together. “Dear friends, we wanted to let you know that we have decided to embark upon this next phase of our lives by living separately,” the e-mail […]
HEAR YE: Kurt Vile Smoke Ring For My Halo
Due out March 8th on Matador. They play March 23rd at World Cafe Live. Here’s a taste… DOWNLOAD: “Jesus Fever” [Mp3]
WORTH REPEATING: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Scientology But Were Afraid To Ask
NEW YORKER: Everyone knew that the big revelations resided in level O.T. III. Hubbard called this level the Wall of Fire. He said, “The material involved in this sector is so vicious, that it is carefully arranged to kill anyone if he discovers the exact truth of it. . . . I am very sure that I was the first one that ever did live through any attempt to attain that material.” The O.T. III candidate is expected to free himself from being overwhelmed by the disembodied, emotionally wounded spirits that have been implanted inside his body. Bruce Hines, a […]
SIDEWALKING: Head On
Thrift For AIDS, 5th & Bainbridge, Saturday 4:10 PM by JEFF FUSCO
SPORTO: Sussing Out The Super Bowl Ads
BY MIKE WOLVERTON SPORTS GUYThe game was entertaining enough, good job Green Bay. Now onto the important stuff: The commercials. They only count if they air during the game (kickoff-to-final gun, no halftime). I’ve thrown out the car ads, movie trailers and FOX promos and rated everything else that tried to be funny or cool. Ratings on a 10-point scale, 6 or above is funny, 5 and below is not. You can watch them all HERE and judge for yourself. I did it so you don’t have to, but don’t let that stop you. First Half Bud Light, “Hack […]
MEDIA: AOL Buys Huffington Post For $315 Million
NEW YORK TIMES: The two companies completed the sale Sunday evening and announced the deal just after midnight on Monday. AOL will pay $315 million, $300 million of it in cash and the rest in stock. Arianna Huffington, the cable talk show pundit, author and doyenne of the political left, will take control of all of AOL’s editorial content as president and editor in chief of a newly created Huffington Post Media Group. The arrangement will give her oversight not only of AOL’s national, local and financial news operations, but also of the company’s other media enterprises like MapQuest and […]
INSTA-REVIEW: O Vs. O’Reilly
BY MATTHEW HENGEVELD A visibly nervous Bill O’Reilly desperately tried to balance his otherworldly patriotism with his overbearing hatred of Democrats when he interviewed President Obama during the Super Bowl pregame. What resulted was an unnerved and arguably unprofessional interview from O’Reilly and a collected President Obama, who took most questions in stride. O’Reilly’s concern for Egypt seemed obligatory judging by the quickness with which he bypassed a substantive discussion and his casual disregard for Obama’s view on the situation — The President’s opinion on the situation in Egypt hasn’t changed or wavered much in the few days since he […]
Obama Broke Pledge To Help Struggling Homeowners
PROPUBLICA: Before he took office, President Obama repeatedly promised voters and Democrats in Congress that he’d fight for changes to bankruptcy laws to help homeowners—a tough approach that would force banks to modify mortgages. “I will change our bankruptcy laws to make it easier for families to stay in their homes,” Obama told supporters at a Colorado rally on September 16, 2008, the same day as the bailout of AIG. Bankruptcy judges have long been barred from lowering mortgage payments on primary residences, though they could do it with nearly all other types of debt, even mortgages on vacation homes. […]
SIDEWALKING: Big Fish Story
Italian Market, 12:47 PM by JEFF FUSCO
DEVENDRA BANHART: Love-In For Oliver Peoples
PREVIOUSLY: It all started, for me anyway, at Brooke Sietinsons‘ walk-up loft/hobbit hole on Second Street, somewhere in that OK Corral-esque strip between the Standard Tap and the 700 Club. Even though she no longer lives there, the exact location will have to remain a secret because, technically speaking, L&I could still fine her for dispensing the Morning Glory seeds of Philly freak-folkdom without a permit. But the select initiates invited to these hash-pipe hootenannies — culled from some of the most remote and impenetrable redoubts of local bohemia — know where I’m talking about. A Jesus-haired figure sits crosslegged […]
Prosecutors Considering Death Penalty For Gosnell
MYFOXPHILLY: Prosecutors also disclosed after the hearing that they could have charged Gosnell with a “hundred murders.” Gosnell was ordered to hire an attorney for next Wednesday;s preliminary hearing after he unsuccessfully asked for a public defender for he and his wife. The district attorney’s office is still debating if it will seek the death penalty in this case. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has 217 death-penalty convictions on record, but the state hasn’t executed anyone since mass-killer Gary Heidnik in 1999. MORE RELATED: Gosnell seemed surprised when Hughes explained that he did not qualify for a public defender because he […]