Posts Tagged ‘politics’
Philly extends 10-year tax abatement for the rich and calls it an anti-poverty program
The mayor and City Council say they have a plan to reduce poverty in Philadelphia, and maybe that’s true — if the plan is to force the poor out of the neighborhoods by spending $400 million to boost gentrification. Perhaps if the plan was to give the money directly to the poor, I’d believe it…
Read More Not high on mixing medical marijuana and politics
A MEDICAL marijuana dispensary called TerraVida Holistic Centers is being proposed for my neighborhood, and I’m not pleased. Not only because the process allowed the community to be caught off guard, but also because the politics surrounding the venture are unseemly, at best. That’s because Chris Visco – one of the partners seeking to open…
Read More Democrats could learn a thing or two from Donald Trump
To celebrate his first 100 days in office, Donald Trump held a rally in Harrisburg. There, in the capital of a state he was not supposed to win, Trump expressed what a president is not supposed to say. In brash, provocative terms, he threatened sitting Congressmen and berated the national media. He spoke of law and…
Read More West Point cadets. Black pride. Not politics.
THE ONLINE backlash against 16 black female West Point cadets who took a raised-fist photo in uniform is a fascinating study on race and politics in America. The picture has led to a U.S. Military Academy probe on whether the raised-fist gesture represents banned political activity. It has sparked a debate on the loyalty of…
Read More Black voters must demand more of Clinton and Sanders
Solomon Jones says neither Hillary Clinton nor Bernie Sanders can win the presidency without black votes, so blacks must make demands. Black votes matter.
Read More Blacks and police far apart on key issues
FOR JIM KENNEY, the first white mayor to helm the majority-non-white city of Philadelphia in 16 years, the central conflict of his first term was revealed in two sentences he uttered during his inauguration speech. “We will have to all put aside our differences and acknowledge two things,” he said. “That black lives do matter,…
Read More Voting while black: Lessons from Hillary
In what is probably the biggest non-surprise in electoral politics this year, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced that she’s throwing her hat in the ring for her husband Bill’s old job, President of the United States. This isn’t her first time at this particular rodeo. For all intents and purposes, the 2008…
Read More Who loves America – Obama or Giuliani?
Rudy Giuliani says President Barack Obama does not love America. That’s right, the former New York mayor and failed presidential candidate told a group of fellow Republicans that he could definitively speak for the President; that indeed he could read the Mr. Obama’s mind. [blocktext align=”right”]Giuliani has no way of knowing how President Obama was brought up. Nor can…
Read More Obama to Democrats: Stop Running From Who You Are
On Thursday evening, as I waited with the press corps for President Obama’s address to the House Democratic Caucus Retreat in Philadelphia, I knew the themes he would cover. He would chastise Republicans for their intransigence, and challenge Democrats to unite. He would speak of an abiding hope for the middle class, and highlight an…
Read More Corbett uses Mumia as political pawn
I’VE NEVER BEEN emotionally invested in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the radio journalist convicted for the murder of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1982. When he was jailed I was a middle school student, more concerned with the awkwardness of adolescence than issues of race and criminal justice. Still, his case continues to rile his passionate supporters.…
Read More