Thom Nickels

Skip to content Some people say that the political polarization in the country is worse now than it's been since the American Civil War.

A satirical exercise in the hypothetical about where the current political polarization could go.

A recent article in City Journal by Heather MacDonald argued that street homelessness is fundamentally an addiction and mental health […]

His Holiness, Dr. Anthony Fauci, was the infallible source of science back in 2020. That was the insufferable year when, in league with Fauci, the city essentially cancelled Easter. Philadelphians were prohibited from hosting gatherings in their homes of more than five or six people. To make sure these guidelines were adhered to, a snatch-on-your-neighbor system was put into place. Neighbors could call a special number and report lawbreakers, whereupon police would be sent out to shut down the private home event.

I find it odd that shortly after seeing two cult films, Roman Polanski's 1999 “The Ninth Gate,” and Stephen King's 1979 political horror film, “The Dead Zone,” my thoughts went straight to State Representative James Talarico (D-Texas), the Senate nominee who will run against Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the fall.

Maura Healey, the 73rd governor of Massachusetts, the first woman and first open lesbian to be elected to that office, served as that state's Attorney General from 2015 to 2023. Healey considers herself a devout Catholic despite being ardently pro-choice, and despite her recent executive order legalizing abortion in Massachusetts up to the ninth month of pregnancy.

Several years ago, I learned that one of the legends of 20th-Century America visited my architect grandfather sometime in 1936 or '37. The occasion was the negotiation of land rights for the proposed building of Nazareth Hospital in Northeast Philadelphia.

Philadelphia is on track to become the second most far left city (after New York) on the East Coast. The tell-tale sign for me was the Democratic primary in May 2026, which wiped out much of the old centrist-Union Democrat guard in the city's Riverwards neighborhood. This far left takeover has been building for a long time.

The name Dilworth Park isn't used much anymore to describe the open public space at City Hall facing West Market Street. While the name may exist on paper, many city residents refer to the area as City Hall Plaza, a space that becomes a sprinkler “fountain” area in summer and an ice-skating rink in the winter.

Skip to content In the 1950s and 1960s, To Tell the Truth was one of the most popular shows on television.