Politics
Today, I am “open” to suggestions. At noon on Friday, a motorcade of cars are scheduled to circle City Hall, horns blaring, occupants safely-distanced inside, to protest Philadelphia’s endless lockdown. They want Mayor Jim Kenney to unlock the city. Kenney said he is fine with peaceful protests, which is
Joe Biden
Before the pandemic that turned America upside down, the bag of squirrels that was the Democratic presidential campaign presented a choice between “moderates” and “progressives.” (I’m using quotes because who knows what those terms actually mean.) As I look back at what happened, there were several waves. I am
ACCT Philly
I hope this doesn’t come across as a desperate attempt to find a silver lining in a dark cloud, meaning the COVID-19 pandemic. But it is a happy fact that for the first time since Philadelphia’s animal shelter was reborn as ACCT Philly in 2012, the building at
Coronavirus
Does society have a right to institute rules and laws to protect its citizens from preventable harm? Self-evident, isn’t it? Especially in democracies where the laws are written by representatives of the people. Are we on the same page so far? Is this something both liberals and conservatives agree
Joe Biden
I believe nothing a woman says, ever. I didn’t even believe my mother when she said she loved me. Women never tell the truth. By now you are scratching your head (male), pumping your arm while cheering (divorced men), or throwing your device out the window (female). And I
Coronavirus
One of my friends is an optimist. No, really. He’s also moderately liberal, but hates Hillary Clinton almost as much as he hates Donald J. Trump, and thinks her endorsement actually hurts Joe Biden. I don’t because she is still very popular among white, female Democrats, who feel
Police
About six weeks after Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw announced the wrong-headed policy that Philadelphia cops would not arrest and take into custody suspects in low-level crimes, it has been reversed. Want to guess why? Because the low-level criminals knew there would be no consequences and they starting running wild, shoplifting
Coronavirus
Having suffered the highest death toll in Europe, more than 27,000, and still in Phase One, total lockdown, Italy is moving gingerly toward Phase Two, slowly opening. “Phase 3 is going to be the criminalization of the contagion,” journalist Nicola Mirenzi wrote on the news website Linkiesta. “The pandemic
Coronavirus
When the Smithfield meat packing plant went down last week, shutting an amazing 5% of pork production, and we were told there would be no disruptions in our food supply chain, I said to myself, “that ain’t kosher.” Now we are told there will be a disruption in what
Coronavirus
Let’s examine some reporting and a statement from President Donald J. Trump. We start with a Monday night report on NBC Nightly News, from usually reliable chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel. He was reporting on Sweden’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was, basically, to ignore it and
Coronavirus
The civil disobedience movement, if you can call it that, is slowly spreading as the Great Isolation expands from days to weeks to months. The “social distance” wall is cracking, despite Dr. Deborah Birx’s warning that we will have -- must have -- social distances through the summer. Like
Coronavirus
In the last few days, a couple of new COVID-19 observations have come into view, developing and changing our view of the Great Isolation. First is research that is revealing — as we test more and more people — that more and more people already have been exposed to the virus, that