Coronavirus
Feel like a little nostalgia today? It’s been 25 years since the Bruce Willis action/sci fi drama “Twelve Monkeys” was shot in the city of Brotherly Love — and at its heart was a Philly-launched virus that wiped out 5 billion people, 99% of the earth’s population, driving
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When Philadelphia Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said this the other day, we knew two things: 1- A lot of Philadelphians were going to ignore him this weekend. 2- He’s not from Philadelphia because a Philadelphian would’ve said, “Don’t go downashore.” Like Farley, I did not grow up
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I am doing something many Trumpsters think is dangerous — I am voting by mail. In fact, I already have. I have mailed in my primary ballot. I have made a voting statement, not a political statement. President Donald J. Trump has said voting by mail was “corrupt” in an April
Politics
Almost everyone agrees that single-party Democratic rule, like the Republican rule that preceded it, is bad for democracy, is bad for Philadelphia, and is bad for the party itself. Britain’s Lord Acton said it best: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Long decades of Republican excesses
Joe Biden
Basement Brigadier Joe Biden can win a presidential campaign against the mobile President Donald J. Trump in the opinion of two guys who propelled Barack Obama to the presidency. The advice givers — David Axelrod, senior strategist for both Obama’s campaigns, and David Plouffe, 2008 campaign manager — wrote an op-ed
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Back in mid-March, kind of as a joke I posted that if U.S. airlines were going to get government cash, they ought to give us more leg room and hip room. It isn’t a joke any more, even now that the CEO of Boeing, who builds their planes,
Coronavirus
I tuned into the Tuesday Senate committee hearing mostly to hear Dr. Anthony Fauci, the most plain-spoken member of America’s medical team. Several of his comments were newsworthy, but the show was stolen by Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine. He posted a graphic (above) that stunned me: In a
Coronavirus
As someone who used to be paid to give an opinion — and who now does it for free — I am not always right. But I am not always wrong, either. My biggest strikeout was the 2016 election, in which I declared Pennsylvania was a lock for Hillary Clinton, and that
MOVE
I am preparing myself for the orgy of guilt and finger-pointing that will lead up to the 35th anniversary of the MOVE tragedy in which 11 people, including five children, died and more than 60 homes were destroyed on West Philadelphia’s Osage Avenue. To better understand May 13, 1985,
Coronavirus
The answer came too late for a column in which I questioned where the mayor gets the legal authority to order quarantines, face masks, social distances and the like. But the mayor’s office has now responded and I am going to share this with those of you wondering the
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The Re-Open PA protestors who wanted to circle City Hall from noon-3 on Friday had two problems, and the light rain wasn’t either of them. One problem was the counter protestors who got in front of the motorcade that was driving north on Broad from Oregon. The counter people
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