Police
In a harsh assessment of the city’s actions last spring during the George Floyd protests, City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart correctly lays the blame at the feet of Mayor Jim Kenney, but gets it partially wrong on the use of police force. The force mentioned by the report says tear
Journalism
Americans’ regard for journalism is lower than whale poop — and it was plenty low long before Donald J. Trump started his “Fake News” tirades, most of them based on his lies. Not all of his accusations were false, because responsible journalists do occasionally get things wrong, and when they do,
Culture
When you think of America’s “most glamorous cities,” Philadelphia might not be in the top 5 — but are we really less glamorous than. . . Cleveland? That is not my opinion, I get it from an online outfit called LawnStarter which does a lot of this kind of pop “research.” Mostly
Politics
This is the kind of person he is. When running for reelection in 2019, Mayor Jim Kenney refused to debate Republican candidate Billy Ciangalini, basically sticking his thumb in the eye of critics who said he owed the concept of democracy a little show. In a city that hasn’t
Presidential politics
Today, shortly before 12 noon, America executed a 180-degree turn, choosing to be led by a flawed, emotional Irish-American, rather than an egomaniacal builder millionaire and TV reality host. After eight years of the professorial calm of Barack Obama, America chose to do something entirely different, and now has U-turned
Uncategorized
It’s embarrassing to see. The National Guard and military vehicles “occupying” our nation’s capital, more soldiers there than in Afghanistan and Iraq combined, the nightly news likes to repeat, endlessly. D.C. even has a Green Zone, just like Baghdad. It’s embarrassing, but necessary. Necessary because a
Uncategorized
What happened Wednesday, Jan. 6, in the nation’s capital was ugly, a stain on democracy, treasonous on the part of some of those who breached the Capitol and invaded the Rotunda. But it was no more a “coup” than the James Throckmorton Middle School production of “1776.” Here is
ACCT Philly
Every so often journalists get caught in a time trap, when the facts of a story change before it can be published. That’s what happened here. If I were working for a newspaper, this would wind up in what we call the “round file” — the waste paper basket. But
Uncategorized
From the perspective of a few days later, what happened Wednesday at the Capitol was worse than it appeared on TV during the afternoon, probably because there were no live cameras inside the building. As what happened inside later became known, it was insurrection, which is defined as “an act
Uncategorized
The U.S. House of Representatives, dominated by Democrats (for now), has just passed rules eliminating gender-specific words such as mother, father, sister, brother, male, female, he, she, his, hers in an attempt to expand — you guessed it — inclusivity. You get to be more inclusive by excluding words that have
Journalism
One thing the Main Stream Media rightfully gets criticized for is the use of anonymous sources. If you want a better understanding of journalism, here’s an explanation of sourcing. Sources are those who provide information to reporters for news stories. If you think about it, most news stories are
Donald J. Trump
I spent a lot of time during the closing of last year arguing with those who accused President Donald J. Trump of attacking democracy by challenging the results of the November election. No, no, I said. He is going to court, which the rules provide for people with a beef.