Political violence
The pointlessness of pointing fingers
Only sickos think murder can be justified as some kind of political protest.
Elections
Behind the scenes in vote-counting in Philadelphia
We hear a lot, righteously, about Republicans who would not vote to certify an election that didn’t turn out their way. I am not suggesting an equivalency between Donald J. Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of a “stolen election” (plus the GOP’s effort to install false electors) with anything
Politics
Kamala hits her left turn signal
So now we know, Kamala Harris has turned left and rolled the dice by selecting leftist, two-term Minnesota governor Tim Walz. Harris is already being portrayed by Republicans as the “most liberal U.S. senator,” one of the coastal elites. Harris is to the left of Joe Biden, and has
Kamala Harris
5 things Kamala needs to do to win
Well, almost no one was expecting this, Vice President Harris. You are thisclose to getting the Democratic nomination for President, making you the torch bearer of the youth (compared to the other guys), and the next woman to try to shatter the glass ceiling. I am here to help. Unlike
Elections
Motor voter needs a tuneup
There seems to be a hole, plus unanswered questions, in Gov. Josh Shapiro’s much ballyhooed Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) policy, an updated version of what’s been called motor voter. City Commissioner Lisa Deeley couldn’t come to the phone The policy states that any eligible person obtaining a
Politics
For local Dems, party discipline is cracking
Will Rogers famously remarked, “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.” Perhaps said in jest, but perhaps true today. NonDemocrat Kendra Brooks (left) got Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro’s endorsement One sign of an organized political party is its ability to maintain discipline
Education
Americans’ low opinion of higher education
For as long as I can remember, especially for the low-to-middle class, a college education was believed to be the golden key that would open the gates to a rich, fulfilling, and financially secure life. Gallup has just knocked the legs out from under that belief, with research that reports
Government
Gov. Shapiro makes a promise, and keeps it
I’m jumping the gun a wee bit here, hanging the garland of praise around the neck of Gov. Josh Shapiro before his announced noon Friday opening of I-95 in Northeast Philly. Gov. Josh Shapiro: Portrait of a man in charge. (Photo: The Business Journals) That is under his original
Culture
About Shapiro’s sudden death penalty conversion
People are permitted to change their mind about their convictions, but they should have a good reason for the change. According to Gov. Josh Shapiro in a broadcast interview, he said he abandoned his long-held belief in capital punishment in part because his son asked a question he could not
Politics
A good, but not great, night for the GOP
I remember midterms when I was in college. Not nearly as terrifying as finals, because finals were, like, final, while if you crashed the midterm, you had time a) to recover before the finals or b) time to drop the course and claim and incomplete rather than an F. In
Politics
Send a smacked ass home
Once, this would be of interest only to citizens of the 182nd Pennsylvania house district, which contains Center City’s Gayborhood, and who were represented by Brian Sims, whom I had supported. I didn’t know a lot about him in 2012, but I knew he wasn’t goniff Babette
Drugs
From crack pipe to crackpot
Elections matter. Faced with howls of protest led by conservatives, the Biden Administration policy that was described as crack pipes for addicts was quickly reversed, to assure citizens their tax money would not be going to providing nice, clean pipes to crack addicts. The pipes-to-addicts line was not a fully