Category Archives: mainstream media

Why are Halloween candy prices so scary?

Posted on October 30, 2026 by oddmanout215

The local CVS is as big as a supermarket. The good drugs are locked away in the pharmacy, but the rest of the store is jammed with “over-the-counter” drugs, cosmetics and junk food. Halloween candy is stacked in plastic bags … Continue reading →

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Vance makes strong bid for Most Hideous Man award

Posted on October 23, 2026 by oddmanout215

I thought of the perfect title for a book that profiles Donald Trump’s most prominent lapdogs and liars — Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. Unfortunately, that title was used in the 1990s by David Foster Wallace, so I’ll have to … Continue reading →

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It’s time for a remake of ‘A Face in the Crowd’

Posted on October 18, 2026 by oddmanout215

“This movie is good but it’s old,” I said to Swamp Rabbit. “It should be remade and updated.” We were watching A Face in the Crowd (1957), starring Andy Griffith as Lonesome Rhodes, a folksy drifter turned reality TV star … Continue reading →

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ICE to cops: Want some shiny new patrol cars?

Posted on October 12, 2026 by oddmanout215

We were in South Philly, discussing the state of the nation over lunch from a local pretzel factory. “Did you see this? ” I said, showing Swamp Rabbit a passage from historian Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the … Continue reading →

Posted in history, humor, immigration, mainstream media, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

‘Influencer’ weaponizes cheesesteak in South Philly

Posted on October 4, 2026 by oddmanout215

We were arguing about a customer who bought a cheesesteak at Pat’s King of Steaks on Wednesday and allegedly shouted “It’s garbage!” before throwing the sandwich in the face of the shop’s general manager. “What’s the big deal?” I joked. … Continue reading →

Posted in food, humor, mainstream media, Philadelphia | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The windmills of Trump’s mind

Posted on September 19, 2026 by oddmanout215

“The news is bad, Swamp Rabbit. We’re keeping coal plants on life support, propping up super-emitters of methane, ignoring record heat and wildfires and long-term droughts, blocking production of electric cars and offshore wind farms, all because of one spiteful … Continue reading →

Posted in apocalypse, climate change, humor, mainstream media, pop music | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Labor organizers have (lots of) work to do

Posted on September 14, 2026 by oddmanout215

Last week on Labor Day I found a column I wrote in 2011 for the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. It’s what editors call an evergreen column, meaning it will always be topical. Plutocrats are still fighting … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, Congress, history, humor, mainstream media, Nativism, plutocracy, Politics, sports, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The irony of anti-immigration efforts

Posted on September 7, 2026 by oddmanout215

“Remember when ICE locked up that guy from Guinea who lived in Philly legally for twenty years, just because they could? There are a million stories like his.” I was telling my crusty neighbor Swamp Rabbit that the history of … Continue reading →

Posted in globalization, humor, immigration, mainstream media, Nativism, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Athletes and artists (Trump and Nero)

Posted on August 27, 2026 by oddmanout215

Another reminder of how much better off we’d be if the malicious buffoon in the White House cheated at golf fulltime instead of devoting his extra hours to wrecking the economy and pursuing his forever war with Iran: The Winning … Continue reading →

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Slipping through the loopholes

Posted on August 20, 2026 by oddmanout215

I figured my neighbor Swamp Rabbit would flip out when he saw my new dispatch, but hey — this is the biggest political story of our era and proof of how quickly an evil fraudster can slip through loopholes in … Continue reading →

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