Coronavirus
Once again, the people who were responsible and did the right thing get squat, while the selfish and lazy are rewarded. This time it’s a $100 gift card to those who get vaccinated now, long after the time they should. It’s a progressive idea that reminds me of
Coronavirus
Sometimes I am almost too willing to compromise. That will come as a surprise to some who know me, but it's true. Sometimes. In my last column, I said I was willing to mask up again, in light of the delta version of COVID-19 sweeping the nation. In
Coronavirus
With the city now recommending that even vaccinated people, like me, wear masks indoors and in crowds, I had some questions, which I put to the city Health Department. Here are my questions and edited versions of the replies from the Health Department's Matt Rankin. Q: I am
Joe Biden
You ever been constipated for a couple of days, feeling really clogged, then swig some prune juice to get things moving? I promise to be delicate here, but remember that feeling of relief when — finally — you were unclogged? That was just half the sublime feeling I had Thursday afternoon when
Coronavirus
What does Philadelphia have for you this holiday season? A second lockdown that it will not call a lockdown. Clampdown, maybe? And this is happening precisely when public health officials are agreeing that lockdowns are not especially effective. What? At a Monday news conference, a grim Mayor Jim Kenney cited
President Donald Trump
2020 keeps throwing knuckleballs at us in an unending series of plot twists that would rival a Hollywood scriptwriter munching on wild mushrooms for lunch. But scriptwriters have to respect their audience. The willing suspension of belief the audience allows will last just so long. The fabulous success of the
Coronavirus
I just got off the phone with my one-time office spouse, and I’m feeling guilty. An office spouse is that work colleague with whom you are so close you develop a bond that is like marriage — one of complete trust and confidence. But not sex. So that’s not
Coronavirus
Look — up in the sky (depending on where you live) — that’s not Superman, it is the Sahara sand storm, the biggest one in half a century that has crossed the Atlantic and is hanging over the Southeastern U.S., and heading inland. A suffocating sand storm. Just a month
Coronavirus
To me, it is not the number — 100,000 Americans dead — nor the speed, since Feb. 6 in Santa Clara County, Calif. The CDC reported a record high 80,000 deaths from the plain old flu in 2017. Were you aware of that number? I wasn’t, perhaps because it
Coronavirus
Hate to criticize what is done for charity, but the Thursday-night, one-hour concert fund-raiser had a slap dash feel to it, and low production values, for the most part. Excluded from that criticism is Godmother of Soul, Patti LaBell, who had backup singers and six musicians who joined her for
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
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