Culture
Did you ever believe in Santa Claus? I did, and that was so long ago if you said old Saint Nick was white, no one batted an eye lash. A few years ago that belief was one of the bill of particulars that led to Megyn Kelly losing her job
Guns
As with some other large cities — Chicago, Baltimore, New Orleans, St. Louis — Philadelphia is experiencing what could be called an epidemic of gun crime. While Philly crime has been halved over the past couple of decades, homicides here are climbing. Attaboy, Mayor Jim Kenney, D.A. Larry Krasner and former
President Donald Trump
I am no fan or supporter of Donald Trump, whom I consider to be a boorish, low-brow, weirdly coiffed, inarticulate embarrassment. He is the Fourth Stooge. I feel that way but I still hesitate to embrace the soon-to-be-published book called “A Warning” by an anonymous author who is identified as
Journalism
Here’s a perfect example of how a blog differs from a newspaper column. What I am about to do I could not do in a newspaper column, but I can here because of the deeper level of intimacy between writer and reader. I am an analog guy in a
Communism
Across the millennia, nations have built walls to protect themselves from outsiders, from China (you can see the Great Wall from space!) to the 112-mile barrier in Cyprus. Only one one nation ever built a wall to keep their people in — that was East Germany, on orders from their communist
Philadelphia Election
Tuesday was a big day for Democrats, in Philadelphia and around the Delaware Valley. In Chester, Delaware and Bucks counties they took control of county governments. The most historic — and worst — win was in Philadelphia where Working Families Party candidate Kendra Brooks won an At-Large Council seat, traditionally held by
Politics
Every Election Day you hear the same helpful wisdom from do-gooders: Your vote counts. Voting is important. Voting is not just a right, it is a duty. All of that is trite, but true. Everybody has an opinion, most everyone anyway. The difference between my opinion and yours is I
Politics
You can’t uphold the law if you break the law. I can’t support any potential lawmaker who is a lawbreaker. City Hall is not supposed to be a morgue for laws. Sanctuary Cities break the law by interfering with the federal government’s ability to identify and perhaps
Halloween
When I was a kid, Halloween was a kids’ holiday. That was a long time ago, in a universe far away — called the South Bronx. We celebrated Halloween on Oct. 31, always. Never on a more convenient weekend night. Always Halloween itself, like Henri David does with his annual party.
Politics
For the half dozen years he was a craps dealer in Connecticut and Atlantic City, Billy Ciancaglini learned about how odds work. Despite that knowledge, he thinks he will embarrass Jim Kenney on November 5 in the race for mayor. Ciancaglini, 48, as a Republican, is on the short end
Humor
I’m pretty sure I don’t have to explain this one. I can’t say I’ve ever been accused of this. I mean toxicity, not saving the world. “Male toxicity” is one of those terms — along with “cultural appropriation,” “school to jail pipeline,” “ecofascism” — that arose from the
Hate crimes
The declaration of this weekend — show up for Shabbat — as a memorial to the slaughter of Pittsburgh Jews reminds me of a column I wrote following that unspeakable tragedy. The thing that distinguishes the Pittsburgh attack from, say, Nazi Germany, is that in America, churches and mosques also have been