Views from Point Breeze

As a political observer I realize that any candidate for political office must espouse viewpoints that will help them to get elected.  When I ran for City Commissioner back in 2011, I advocated for a mobile voting machine and updated voting lists.  Even without the money and the backing of the Democratic Party, I was able to garner over 30,000 votes.  My team got on street corners and grinded.  According to his own proclamations, Donald Trump is super rich.  According to his running mate, Mike Pence, he has donated millions of dollars to charity.  The problem is, he won't submit his tax returns to validate anything that he says.  It is a fact that he has not personally contributed to the Donald Trump Foundation since 2008.  Other than that, his statements are pure conjecture. Recently, Donald Trump came to the realization that he was going to need African American voters to win the Presidency.  Initially, most of his proclamations about th...

I am absolutely stunned by the violence directed towards police in Philadelphia this year.  I empathize along with the rest of the country over the innocent people killed by police officers.  Eric Garner, Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, Alton Sterling, Tamir Rice and Philando Castile all suffered terrible fates at the hands of officers of the law.  The circumstances of the shootings led many neutral observers to wonder what kind of training these officers received before receiving a shield to protect and to serve.  The Black Lives Matter movement was spawned because of the rising rate of innocent civilians of color losing their lives in encounters with men and women in blue. On January 7th, 2016 a gunman shot police officer Jesse Hartnett while he was sitting in his police cruiser in West Philly.  He was severely wounded but was able to get out of his car and shoot the fleeing suspect.  The suspect was unemployed and supposedly committed the crime in the ...

Hurricane Hermine will not go down as one of the major hurricanes to have affected the United States in the last few years.  It did affect vacation plans for millions of Americans along the east coast though.  My Family and I had planned to spend some time on the beach in Atlantic City soaking up some rays and barbecuing.  We found a place on Maine and New Hampshire that is the closest thing to a private beach that you will find.  The weather has been spectacular in Philadelphia.  I enjoyed a block party on Manton Street yesterday and today was a perfect day to watch Power and a few episodes of Bond.  I watched Bridge of Spies and was impressed by Tom Hanks in his role as a hostage negotiator. Hurricane Hermine started out as a Tropical Storm.  It revved up some spectacular waves and caused at least three deaths.  Thankfully, once it got up to New Jersey and New York, it veered west instead of east.  Many merchants bemoaned the fact that G...