Archive for June 2014
Black fathers can stop gun violence
AS JULY approaches, Philadelphia’s streets will bear the telltale signs of summer. We’ll see fireworks and water ice. We’ll see sculls on the Schuylkill. We’ll see children playing in open hydrants and lovers along Penn’s Landing. But if statistical trends hold true, the stain of gun violence will mar July’s beauty, because, over the past…
Read More Pull your pants up Oldhead
I’D BEEN UNDER the weather for the past week, coughing and wheezing with a sore throat that just wouldn’t quit. For the first time in days, I felt like leaving the house, so I went to the supermarket to grab some apples. [blocktext align=”right”] When you’ve got a decades-old gut, and hair reminiscent of Frederick Douglass…
Read More The Sandusky investigation missed the injustice
THE INVESTIGATION that led to the 2012 child molestation conviction of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is over, but the fallout continues. The latest salvo in the ongoing battle for the political high ground in the Sandusky affair came earlier this week, when Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane (D) found that former Attorney…
Read More In sickness and … in sickness
YOU’VE HEARD of Montezuma’s revenge, the stomach illness that afflicts Americans who dare to drink the water in Mexico. Well, I’ve been afflicted with something far more sickening, malevolent and deadly. It’s called LaVeta’s revenge, and it is tearing my body apart. In order for you to understand the origin of this ailment, you’d have…
Read More Iraq, our kids, and the March of the War Pigs
“Generals gathered in their masses, just like witches at black masses…” – Black Sabbath, War Pigs If you’ve ever seen the movie “I’m Gonna Get You Sucka!” you know that the way you can tell if someone is a real hero is if he has a band behind him playing his theme music. [blocktext align=”right”]Thanks…
Read More Kim Kardashian and the way men think
ON FATHER’S DAY, I was walking along South Street in Philadelphia with my 9-year-old son, Solomon, and my 12-year-old daughter, Eve. A woman passed by in shorts that were so small they showed much of her buttocks. “Eeeeww,” Eve said. I was glad my daughter responded that way, because it means she has internalized the…
Read More Kardashian, Mayweather, and Male Entitlement
I’M REALLY GLAD I’m not Kim Kardashian. Despite the fact that she’s loaded, takes private jets to exotic places, has a closet filled with designer clothes, and has a talented, if not a bit nutso, husband in Kanye West, I’m glad. You know why I’m glad I’m not Kim Kardashian? Because she is the poster child…
Read More Real Talk Video: How to build wealth
Build wealth by investing in what you know AKBAR HASAN is a financial advisor who knows how to build wealth. He’s got lots of practical advice for those who are serious about money. In his first segment on Real Talk with Solomon Jones, Hasan talks Apple, the multibillion-dollar company whose techno-gadgets are in millions of homes. The…
Read More Fighting for Father’s Day Equality
THOSE OF YOU who have followed the Family Man saga will recall that my wife, LaVeta, recently asked me what I wanted for Father’s Day. I told her I wanted to go to Atlantic City with the family. She said OK, and I began to fantasize. I thought of Shore trips with my parents when…
Read More The short skirt game: real or fake?
EVEN AFTER 14 years of marriage and two daughters, I have not quite grasped all the complications of women. I don’t feel bad, though. Most men go to their graves without understanding what makes females tick. But I’m different from those guys, because I’m willing to admit it. I’ll even go one step further. I’ll turn to my…
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