NEW YORK TIMES: Republicans won control of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, riding a powerful wave of voter discontent as they dealt a setback to President Obama two years after his triumphal victory. And while the G.O.P. made strong gains in the Senate, Democrats were positioned to maintain their control of that chamber. Democrats were dealt significant losses, particularly in the House, where Republicans recorded a series of wins from New Hampshire to Virginia and Indiana to Florida, knocking out well-established incumbents and freshmen alike, all of whom struggled to overcome opposition to the Democratic Party’s agenda. Representative John […]
JUST DO IT: Vote Early And Often
You know what to do.
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Michael Caine‘s memoir, The Elephant to Hollywood, recounts the highs and lows of a career that has now spanned more than five decades. (The title refers to the part of London — called Elephant and Castle — where Caine grew up.) In it, he candidly talks about his journey from South London to the screen, detailing his battles with stage fright and his jaunts around the world once the films Zulu and Alfie catapulted him onto the international stage. He also details how early in his career, he worked hard to make audiences realize that he and Alfie, […]
SIDEWALKING: When The Music’s Over
Gov. Ed Rendell, Moving America Forward Rally, U of Penn, 6:45 PM JEFF FUSCO RELATED: Gov. Ed Rendell approached two men eating in the food court at One Liberty Place in Center City Philadelphia during the lunch hour rush Monday. After obliging them with talk about the Philadelphia Eagles (Rendell predicted a 10-6 season and trip to the playoffs for the Birds) he said, “But tomorrow. Tomorrow. Vote.” Then he leaned in and said, “You know they’re trying to screw the president, right?” MORE
ELECTION FORECAST: A Perfect Shitstorm
MOTHER JONES: The day before the election, pollsters are predicting that the Democratic wipeout could be even bigger than expected. There’s no question that the GOP will take the House, but Gallup suggests that Republican net gains could give their party a bigger House majority than any party has achieved before. […] The GOP needs to win just 39 Democratic seats to take the House, but projections are now up to 60 seats or more, with over 100 seats in play. And if Republicans end up on with an overwhelmingly majority, they will feel even more emboldened to find every conceivable […]
TONITE: First Lady In University City
What: Organizing Rally with First Lady Michelle Obama Where: University of Pennsylvania The Perelman Quadrangle 3417 Spruce St. Philadelphia, PA 19104 When: Monday, November 1st Doors open: 5:30 p.m. Program begins: 7:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, but an RSVP is encouraged. Space is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Enter from College Green on the West side of College Hall.
CRIME: Meet The Dude That Probably Took Your GPS
INQUIRER: The GPS had been stolen three weeks earlier. That Friday in March, after working 12 hours, Horowitz returned to a Center City garage to find the passenger-side window of his car shattered, Garmin GPS gone, and weekend travel plans dashed. Records indicate the GPS was sold to the pawnshop by a Julio Steven Jackson for $35, three hours after Horowitz parked his car. It wasn’t Jackson’s first sale there, and it would not be his last. Over two weeks, receipts show, Jackson sold seven Garmin GPS devices, all to the same pawnshop. “Are you kidding me?” Horowitz remembered telling […]
EARLY WORD: Meet The New Boss
On the night he was named to lead region’s largest news organization, Greg Osberg told the Philadelphia Daily News that one of his three main goals will be “to encourage and reward innovation throughout the company, with an emphasis on digital innovation,” and that he plans to steer the company toward a heavy emphasis on digital content that will be delivered on the latest mobile devices. As president and worldwide publisher of Newsweek and Newsweek.com from 2000 through 2008, Osberg’s top priority was growing the company’s online traffic and revenue. Previously, he had been the president of CNET, and most recently served […]
HOORAY: The Second Coming Of Pee Wee Herman
[Illustration by nastynoser] NEW YORK TIMES: THE Pied Piper was nowhere to be heard, and Santa Claus wouldn’t be coming to town for a few more weeks, but something irresistible had drawn a small crowd to the West Fourth Street basketball courts in Greenwich Village on a recent Thursday morning. Huddled in groups of two and three, a few dozen men and women in their 20s and 30s glanced at one another and at their smartphones, rereading the Twitter and Foursquare messages that directed them here, waiting for something to happen. Without fanfare a white van sailed up to the […]
STUDY: Alcohol More Harmful Than Crack And Heroin
CNN: Alcohol ranks “most harmful” among a list of 20 drugs — beating out crack and heroin — according to study results released by a British medical journal. A panel of experts weighed the physical, psychological, and social problems caused by the drugs and determined that alcohol was the most harmful overall, according to an article on the study released by The Lancet Sunday. Using a new scale to evaluate harms to individual users and others, alcohol received a score of 72 on a scale of 1 to 100, the study says. That makes it almost three times as harmful […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Social D @ The Electric Factory
BY ARTHUR SHKOLNIK Friday night I arrived at the Electric Factory and saw gray-haired grandpas, hawked and studded teens, and everyone in between standing side by side; three generations of concert-goers with one thing in common – an abiding faith in Social Distortion — a legendary band that, for over 30 years, has both defined and transcended the rebellion and attitude of punk rock while remaining fearlessly unabated in the face of its own evolution. This is undoubtedly due to the hardships a now 48-year-old Mike Ness has faced on his long and arduous path through love, loss, and drugs, […]
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: Sanity Restored
For a few hours, anyway. More Restore Sanity rally signs HERE. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: CBS News reports Stewart’s event drew 215,000 people to the National Mall in Washington, based on a crowd estimate from AirPhotosLive.com. The same company, which examines aerial photos of crowds to gauge attendance, estimated between 78,000 and 96,000 people attended Beck’s rally in August. That estimate of Beck’s crowd proved very controversial, as various sources reported wildly different numbers. A Comedy Central representative told Entertainment Weekly that 250,000 people attended in person, while 4 million streamed the event on their computers at home. Prior to […]
CONTEST: Win Tix To See Brat Productions’ Carrie
After playwright Erik Jackson wrote an impassioned 6-page letter asking Stephen King to entrust him with one of his great bestsellers, the world-renowned novelist agreed to allow Jackson and Theatre Couture (creators of the off-Broadway hits Charlie! and Tell-Tale) to mine Carrie for humor, developing it into a dark comedy for 2006’s sold-out off-Broadway run at PS122 in New York, featuring the internationally-recognized drag queen Sherry Vine (aka Keith Levy) as Carrie White. Carrie – which has also been a 1976 feature film directed by Brian De Palma, a 1988 Broadway musical, a 1999 feature film sequel, and a 2002 television […]