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Government-enforced shutuppery

The Biden Administration keeps going after the Capitol kerfufflers, and is now charging Stephen M Baker, a sometime-journalist, with the same four offenses used against the vast majority of the protesters.

Musician and libertarian writer who works for ‘The Blaze’ arrested on Jan. 6 charges

Steve Baker, who led a David Bowie tribute band and started working for Glenn Beck’s website in 2023, said he “100%” approved of the Capitol attack, the FBI said.

By Ryan J. Reilly | Friday, March 1, 2024 | 2:45 PM EST |4:19 PM EST

WASHINGTON — The former lead singer of a David Bowie tribute band who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, licensed his footage to media outlets, and now works as a writer for Glenn Beck’s “The Blaze” website has been arrested on misdemeanor Capitol attack charges after turning himself into federal authorities in Texas.

Steve Baker, a musician and libertarian writer who was a frequent presence at the federal courthouse in Washington during the Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy trial and other Jan. 6 cases, faces the same four standard misdemeanors as many lower-level Capitol riot defendants.

A copy of a FBI affidavit, provided to NBC News by defense attorney William Shipley, indicates that federal prosecutors will focus on comments from Baker that show he was sympathetic to the mob, including when he referred to Nancy Pelosi as a “b—-” after talking about the mob raiding the former House speaker’s office, and a comment in which he said he regretted that he didn’t steal government property during the attack.

There’s more at the original.

The FBI Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint and Arrest Warrant tells us just how politically motivated the prosecution is:

24 – Witness 2 was subsequently interviewed by FBI, during which time Witness 2 stated he/she had known BAKER for approximately 10 years. Witness 2 had previously observed BAKER live-streaming video to multiple platforms under the name, “Stephen Ignoramus.” These platforms included YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Bitchute, Brightyon, Dlive.tv, Twitch, and Periscope. Witness 2 had previously observed videos by BAKER and had been alarmed by the content which Witness 2 described as including advancement of conspiracy theories and mockery of minority groups. Witness 2 further advised that one of BAKER’s YouTube channels had been banned by YouTube in or about December 2020.

Mr Baker was clearly documenting the Capitol kerfuffle as it was ongoing, and his stream was picked up by the credentialed media. While working as an occasional freelancer at the time, Mr Baker has been an accredited journalist subsequently. Of course, the government doesn’t like the freedom of speech that Mr Baker has exercised, using as part of the FBI agent’s affidavit that he, horrors!, “advance(d) conspiracy theories” and “engaged in “mockery of minority groups.”

Had Mr Baker expressed other views, saying something like, “Oh, this is terrible,” he’d never have been charged with anything. The government like when journalists express liberal views!

Mr Baker now faces the same charges as the majority of the Capitol kerfufflers:

  • 18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(1) – Knowingly Entering or Remaining in any Restricted Building or Grounds Without Lawful Authority. Since Mr Baker not accused of harming anyone or carrying a deadly weapon, the maximum punishment under (b)(2) is a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in any other case.
  • 18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(2) – Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds. Since Mr Baker is not accused of harming anyone or carrying a deadly weapon, the maximum punishment under (b)(2) is a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in any other case.
  • 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(D) – Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building: utter loud, threatening, or abusive language, or engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the Grounds or in any of the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress or either House of Congress, or the orderly conduct in that building of a hearing before, or any deliberations of, a committee of Congress or either House of Congress; The penalty for violating 40 U.S.C. §5104(e)(2) is a misdemeanor conviction punishable by a maximum fine of $5,000 fine or up to six months in prison, or both.
  • 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(G) – Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building; The penalty for violating 40 U.S.C. §5104(e)(2) is a misdemeanor conviction punishable by a maximum fine of $5,000 or up to six months in prison, or both.

The majority of the earlier convicted kerfufflers pleaded guilty to a single count of Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing, receiving sentences ranging between probation and a six months. Several of them already had time served, since many had been arrested and, at least initially, denied bail. It was simple: hammer down on charges, to ‘encourage’ the kerfufflers to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor. After all, if convicted on all four charges, and with judges who had already expressed displeasure that those who have pleaded guilty have done so to such a minor charge, those convicted could be sentenced to three years and possibly crippling fines. That Attorney General Merrick Garland, who hates Republicans because the GOP denied him a seat on the Supreme Court, has allowed his minions to offer pleas on only one misdemeanor charge, is indicative of the fact that this ‘insurrection’ wasn’t much of a much.

Also on this topic: William Teach, “Brandon Admin Arrests Journalist For Reporting On J6

“The government was trying to get the kerfufflers to issue apologies for their behavior, which Anna Morgan-Lloyd, the first convicted, did, but, the day after her sentencing, Mrs Morgan-Lloyd pretty much walked back everything she said in her ‘tearful’ apology.

The real issue is probation: if the government attaches probation to any of the convictions, then the (not very) guilty will be under government supervision of some sort for the length of his probation. Mr Baker is no fan of the government in general, or the Biden Administration in particular, and probation could be used to shut him up.

And that’s really what the dummkopf from Delaware and his fascist-inspired minions want. With an arrest on February 29th, they can keep him quiet, by revoking bail, until after the election.
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Also posted on American Free News Network. Check out American Free News Network for more well written and well reasoned conservative commentary.

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You in a heap o’ trouble, boy! There are some real super-geniuses in the criminal world!

Daquis Sharp, mugshot by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record.

It was just Thursday that we reported on three absolute super-geniuses, for shooting and wounding a Lexington police detective. Well, now on what the talking heads at the Weather Channel are calling the first day of meteorological spring, we’re learning more, and it isn’t pretty.

Two suspects charged for firing on Lexington police detective linked to other shooting

by Christopher Leach | Friday, March 1, 2024 | 7:39 AM | Updated: 9:45 AM

Two of the three suspects who have been accused of shooting a Lexington police officer earlier this week are facing new charges from a another shooting this past summer, according to the Lexington Police Department.

Daquis Sharp, 27, and Jatiece Parks, 19, have both been charged with two counts of first-degree assault (complicity) and one count of first-degree wanton endangerment (complicity). Police said the charges are connected to a shooting that injured three people, including a juvenile.

Jatiecee Parks, mugshot by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record.

The shooting happened on July 4 on the 500 block of Stonehaven Drive. Police said they found shell casings and damaged property on the scene and while investigating, three people showed up at a local hospital with gunshot wounds. Their injuries were described as non-life-threatening.

Parks was one of the three people injured in the shooting, according to court documents. He told investigators he was lighting fireworks at a party when an unknown vehicle drove by and fired shots.

During the investigation, detectives learned Parks was not an attendee at the party and had lied in his initial statement. Court documents say Sharp planned the shooting and was present with Parks when it occurred.

There’s more at the original.

No, of course what my best friend used to call the Lexington Herald-Liberal didn’t publish the (alleged) malefactors’ mugshots; it seems that exceptions taken to the McClatchy Mugshot Policy are only taken when the accused criminals are white.

There’s more below the fold, because I have a video embedded there. Continue reading →

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Why don’t we take sex crimes against children seriously? Perhaps just 3½ years for a lesbian in lady jail isn’t really “address(ing) teachers who prey on students”?

April Bradford. Photo via Kentucky Today.

We have twice previously mentioned the very lovely April Bradford. Miss Bradford sexually assaulted (at least) two female students, beginning when at least one of them was in middle school.

According to the Floyd County Chronicle, Miss Bradford was indicted on

  • KRS §530.064 First-degree unlawful transaction with a minor (class B felony), 11 counts. Under subsection (2)(b), this offense is a Class B felony if the victim is less than 16 years old;
  • KRS §510.080 Second-degree sodomy (class C felony), one count. Under subsection (1), second-degree sodomy is defined as deviate sexual intercourse with a victim who is under 14 years old, or is incapable of consent due to mental deficiency or incapacitation; and
  • KRS §510.090 Third-degree sodomy (class D felony), seven counts. Under subsection (1)(d) this is deviate sexual intercourse with a person under 18 over whom the perpetrator holds a position of authority.

There was clearly some heavy-duty plea bargaining which has occurred, because under KRS §532.060, the minimum sentence for a Class B felony is not less than ten years, and for a Class C felony, not less than five years. According to WYMT, Miss Bradford pleaded guilty to eight counts of third-degree sodomy and 11 counts of first-degree sexual abuse. Under KRS §510.110, First degree sexual abuse is a Class D felony, the sentence for which is not less than one year, nor more than five years. Miss Bradford received a medium sentence for Class D felonies, and was not convicted of the Class C or B felonies.

Perhaps the state attorney general, who was prosecuting this case, didn’t want to have to put the two known victims on the stand, a fairly reasonable thing in cases where the victims are kept anonymous, but the two victims, Jessica Hensley and Mary Prater, chose to come forward publicly, and made their statements.

Also on this topic: Robert Stacy McCain, “Let’s Talk About Things That Never Happen, According to Mainstream Media“

It may still be the case that the victims did not wish to relive their cases on the witness stand, but they did state that they wanted to have Miss Bradford serve her sentence in prison, rather than some sort of home confinement.

Miss Bradford was formally sentenced to 3½ years on Thursday, February 29th, and this time Lexington Herald-Leader reporter Valarie Honeycutt Spears did not write her story in a manner which concealed the fact that Miss Bradford’s sexual abuse was homosexual in nature, the way reporter Beth Musgrave had done on Thursday, November 30, 2023.

In addition to her prison sentence, Bradford will be a lifetime sex-offender registrant under the Kentucky sex offender registry, which includes five years of post-incarceration supervision by the Department of Corrections. A condition of the plea was a 10-year interpersonal protective order against Bradford for the benefit of the victims.

Survivor’s of Bradford’s abuse read statements at the sentencing:

“April Bradford was a terrible influence on my life and caused more damage than good,” said Mary Prater. “She deceived me, my family, our school and everyone in the community. I can stand today with my head held high knowing that God gave me and Jessica the strength to grow up and make it stop.”

Prater and Jessica Hensley recently told the Herald-Leader they are frustrated more hasn’t been done to address teachers who prey on students.

Perhaps just 3½ years for a lesbian in lady jail isn’t really “address(ing) teachers who prey on students”?

More, I have to ask: where is Miss Bradford? For someone who should already be in jail, the Kentucky Online Offender Lookup (KOOL) search function does not return any information on Miss Bradford. Was she free during the three months between her conviction on November 30, 2023 and formal sentencing, on Leapday? I would have thought that a sexual predator would have been locked up right away, but perhaps I’m mistaken.

Under Miss Bradford’s original charges, she faced a possible 265 years in prison, yet her attorney managed to negotiate it down to 3½. Simply one conviction on a Class B felony yields a maximum sentence of 20 years, which would seem to seem to be appropriate. As it is, Miss Bradford will be only 54 or 55 years old when she gets out, plenty of time left to enjoy life as best she can.

We should take sex crimes against minors much more seriously than we do.
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Update: KOOL shows, as of 8:25 AM EST on Saturday, that Miss Bradford is incarcerated in the Floyd County Detention Center. Other information, including prospective release dates, parole eligibility, and latest possible release dates, have not been added as of this update.

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You in a heap o’ trouble, boy!

Daquis Sharp, mugshot by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record.

It’s safe to say that Daquis Sharp isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. Mr Sharp’s record with the Fayette County Detention Center shows eight previous mugshots, and he’s only a couple of months past his 26th birthday. This time, he shot a cop, though fortunately did not kill the officer.

Three arrested for attempted murder after shooting injures Lexington police detective

by Christopher Leach | Thursday, February 29, 2024 | 7:16 AM EST | Updated: 8:16 AM EST | Updated: 10:47 AM EST

A Lexington Police Department detective was injured after being shot while conducting an investigation, according to police.

The shooting happened at approximately 11:54 p.m. Feb. 28 on the 900 block of Royal Avenue, which is near Winchester Road. Police said detectives were following up on an investigation when unknown suspect(s) opened fire on a detective inside a vehicle.

Jatiecee Parks, mugshot by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record.

The detective suffered minor injuries but did not require hospitalization, according to police. The detective was able to return shots and no other injuries were reported.

Three people were detained on the scene. Later Thursday morning, police said the three suspects, 27-year-old Daquis Sharp, 19-year-old Jatiece Parks and 19-year-old Zalan Dulin, were all arrested and charged in connection to the incident.

Arrest citations for the suspects say they fired multiple shots into the detective’s unmarked vehicle. One shot hit the detective in the thigh.

The vehicle sustained over $1,000 in damage from the shots, according to court documents.

All three suspects have been charged with attempted murder of a police officer, second-degree assault (police officer), first-degree criminal mischief and six counts of first-degree wanton endangerment, according to police. The suspects are also accused of firing shots into an occupied home on Royal Avenue with six people inside.

Shockingly enough, Mr Sharp was also charged with possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon, which means that he was violating one of the gun control laws which we have been told would make us all safer.

Zalan Dulin, mugshot by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record.

The two other accused were charged with the same offenses, other than possession by a convicted felon. Mr Dulin’s mugshot shows a neck full of tattoos, which is perhaps not the sign of a particularly intelligent individual, along with an “Oh, poop! What have I done?” look on his face.

  • Attempted Murder of a Police Officer, a Class B felony, which carries a sentence of 10 to 20 years
  • Assault, second degree, of a police officer, a Class C felony, which carries a sentence of 5 to 10 years
  • Criminal mischief, first degree, a Class D felony, which carries a sentence of 1 to 5 years
  • Possession of firearm by a convicted felon, a Class D felony, unless the weapon is a handgun, in which case it is a Class C felony
  • Wanton Endangerment, first degree, a Class D felony (six counts)

Personally, I believe that those gradations are each one step too lenient. Perhaps, just perhaps, the two 19-year-old offenders have some chance of rehabilitation, but Mr Sharp has been a persistent felon, and, if convicted, needs to enjoy the pleasant accommodations of the Kentucky State Penitentiary near Eddyville for as long as the law allows.

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The Philadelphia teachers and crappy work attitudes. If some teachers believe that they are not "treated with dignity," it is because other teachers have not been worthy of dignified treatment.

I’ve seen the forms before. In an employee evaluation form from the University of Kentucky, when I was in grad school, there was an attendance section which had four different possible selections, one of which was “Uses sick days as fast/almost as fast as they are accumulated.” And no, that box was not checked in my case; I almost never missed work, and yes, I went to work even when I was not feeling 100%.

I did have a few instances of missing time when I was hospitalized due to Crohn’s Disease, something I have but which is almost completely in remission. My last serious flare-up was in 2012.

However, in an article in Wednesday’s Philadelphia Inquirer, on the use of sick days in the city’s public schools, there was one line which told subscribers — yes, it’s another of those “subscribers Only” articles — which encapsulated the problem very succinctly:

“The days were meant for us to take,” said Cristina Gutierrez, a kindergarten teacher at Elkin Elementary in Kensington.

No, Miss Gutierrez, the sick days are not some sort of personal time off that employees are “meant” to take; they are there for employees to use when they are actually sick! Perhaps the Inquirer’s school system reporter, Kristen A Graham, or an editor was as appalled by that statement as I was, given that someone made it the lead photograph, complete with that abysmal quotation, in the online version of the article!

Sick days come with their contract. But Philly teachers get punished for taking them.

10 are allowed each year, but after accumulating a few, instructors are expected to meet with the boss. Then things intensify.

by Kristen A Graham | Wednesday, February 28, 2024 | 5:00 AM EST

Philadelphia teachers’ contract allows them 10 sick days a year. But they are progressively penalized just for taking them.

No, the teachers are not being punished for using sick days; they are being held to account for abusing sick days.

That means when a teacher comes down with a virus or has a family member with a medical emergency, there’s a constant calculus in the heads of many: Can I afford to take the day off? Will there be consequences for doing so?

The policy, known informally as “3-5-7-9,” works this way: After a teacher’s third “occurrence,” whether a single sick day or the third in a consecutive stretch of days, principals are instructed to have an informal conversation with the instructor and write a memo documenting the episode. After the fifth occurrence, the teacher gets a warning memo in the permanent file; after the seventh, the teacher gets an “unsatisfactory incident” memo in the file and a formal conference. A teacher who reaches nine occurrences gets a second unsatisfactory incident report, a recommended suspension, and conferences with the principal and assistant superintendent.

The policy seems kind of bulky and overly documentarian, but I suppose that’s something that’s required in a large, unionized environment.

My far too expensive Philadelphia Inquirer subscription. I could use a senior citizen’s discount right about now!

Miss Graham’s article continues to tell readers “subscribers like (me)” — and I subscribe so that you don’t have to — several different stories about hardships that some teachers have: sick children, handicapped spouses, and the like, many of which would appear to be legitimate concerns.

Much further down:

The policy stems from a case dating 40 years, when a district secretary was fired for poor attendance. The PFT (Philadelphia Federation of Teachers) challenged the termination and ultimately lost; the arbitrator wrote that management can “require reasonably steady attendance as a condition of employment, regardless of the reasons for the absences, since otherwise the employee is of no practical value to the enterprise.”

The PFT contract sets the number of sick days at 10 (plus three personal days), but the arbitration decision gives the district the right to set the 3-5-7-9 policy. The district’s employee relations department tells principals that “progressive discipline uses increasingly more severe penalties to bring about positive change in employee behavior. The goals of progressive discipline are to improve employee output, correct inappropriate behavior, or terminate recalcitrant employees.”

Under the union contract, full-time teachers, referred to as ten-month employees, have a work year defined as 188 days[1]Article XVII, §A and a work day set at 7 hours and 4 minutes, including a duty-free lunch our of 30 minutes in secondary schools, and 45 minutes in elementary schools.[2]Article XVII, §B(1)(a) How many employees in the private sector, who normally have a 244-day work year plus two weeks of vacation, would love to have ten sick days plus three ‘personal’ days? Yet here we have teachers, who get a solid two months off a year, combitching that they can’t use sick days just willy-nilly. I can guarantee you that, if I had taken ten unscheduled says off a year, I’d have been fired in any job I ever had!

The union contract has the sick day provisions in place not to be [insert plural slang term for the anus here], but due to teachers with an attitude as expressed by Miss Gutierrez[3]Perhaps Miss Gutierrez simply expressed herself poorly; I do not know her, so I cannot really judge. But I have been proceeding as though she meant exactly what she said., that sick days are things simply granted to teachers to take off for whatever reasons they have. If the employees had a decent employee attitude, they’d come to work every day they were scheduled to work, do their f(ornicating) jobs, and the Inquirer would have had no story on the subject.

What about Lewis Elkin Elementary School, where Miss Gutierrez teaches? According to US News & World Report, only 5% of students tested at or above grade-level proficiency in reading and 5% scored at or above grade-level proficiency in math. Niche.com gives the school a C- in overall performance, a C- in academics, and a C for quality of teachers.[4]US News & World Report mistakenly called the school Elkin Lewis Elementary, while Niche.com got it right as Lewis Elkin Elementary. Perhaps Miss Gutierrez’s expressed attitude has been shaped by working in a poor school in Kensington, or perhaps the poor school in Kensington has been shaped by her attitude.

Shortly after he started teaching at Building 21, a district high school in West Oak Lane, Julian Prados Franks explained his new employer’s sick time policy to his family. His father, a casino worker, was mystified.

He said, “‘They do what?’” said Prados Franks, who has not incurred consequences for using his sick time — yet. “This policy just demonstrates a fundamental distrust between the district and the teachers; that level of control makes it feel like we’re not adults, like we don’t deserve to be treated with dignity.”

It’s simple: the Philadelphia Public Schools are unionized, and the union contract has to specify how teachers who do not act like adults have to be treated and subjected to discipline. Mr Prados Franks may very well be one of the good guys, but the School District has to have the policies in place for everyone — and Miss Graham’s article noted that there have been complaints that the policy has not been enforced evenly — good and bad. If some teachers believe that they are not “treated with dignity,” it is because some teachers have not been worthy of dignified treatment.

You know, we used to have a pretty strong work ethic in this country, and some of us still do. We go to work and do our jobs, every day we are scheduled to work. I’ve had to work many Saturdays in my career, and not a few Sundays as well. I’ve worked 19 full days in a row before, and one year, because another worker had a heart attack, I had only two work days off all year, no vacations, nothing.

But now we have a generation of whiners, and I find it sickening.

References

References
↑1 Article XVII, §A
↑2 Article XVII, §B(1)(a)
↑3 Perhaps Miss Gutierrez simply expressed herself poorly; I do not know her, so I cannot really judge. But I have been proceeding as though she meant exactly what she said.
↑4 US News & World Report mistakenly called the school Elkin Lewis Elementary, while Niche.com got it right as Lewis Elkin Elementary.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer tells us about yet another government economic program that just didn’t work.

My good friend Daniel Pearson — OK, OK, I think he knows who I am, but we’ve never met other than in debates on Twitter — is an editorial writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and that makes him a liberal, but he’s not a far left whacko, and conservatives can actually talk to him. And, other than the fact that he appears to be holding a disgusting Philly cheesesteak in his Twitter pic — a hot, freshly baked Philly pretzel would be more than acceptable, but cheesesteaks are vile — I pretty much like him. Today’s main editorial shows that, for a liberal, he’s not completely ignorant of economics.

Inclusionary zoning has failed to deliver on affordable housing promise | Editorial

Since enforcement began in July 2022, only five housing projects — with a total of 106 new apartments and fewer than 30 income-restricted units — have received permits within the restricted area.

by The Editorial Board | Tuesday, February 27, 2024 | 6:00 AM EST

In December 2021, Philadelphia City Council created a new affordable housing program — known as inclusionary zoning — that sounded almost too good to be true.

With no public subsidy, density bonuses, or other financial concessions, developers of new properties with 10 or more units in parts of West Philadelphia and the greater Kensington area were required to set aside 20% of every proposed new development for affordable housing. Given the then-hot real estate market in these areas, supporters pitched the concept as a cost-free way to prevent displacement as neighborhoods changed.

The problem is obvious. Developers, like is the case with all other types of investors and businesses, are in business to make money, the maximum amount of money possible for the shareholders. A requirement to set aside 20% for “affordable housing”, without any financial kickbacks or concessions, means that there’s less money to be made. Not only is there less money to be made on the “affordable” units, but the presence of the lower cost units brings down the sale value or potential rents for the luxury condominiums or apartments.

“Philadelphia is in the midst of a full-blown housing crisis. If we continue to do nothing, housing prices will continue to go up, and the Black and brown people who are the backbone of this city will continually be pushed to the fringes,” said Councilmember Jamie Gauthier at the time. Gauthier, along with then-Councilmember Maria Quiñones Sánchez, proposed the bill.

Two years later, the legislation hasn’t lived up to those lofty goals — and it’s clear a new approach is needed.

Ryan Spak, an affordable housing developer with a track record of delivering new income-restricted housing without public subsidy, predicted that the concept would struggle. Spak told anyone who would listen that the bill would force him to either raise prices to unsustainable levels or to do business outside of West Philly. The math simply didn’t work out.

Mr Spak did the math, writing on January 6, 2022:

Today, rents have already risen to unseen levels. This legislation forces those costs to rise faster and higher because developers will have to charge more for the market-rate units to pay for the affordable units. For one example, to meet the required 20% of the units at 40% AMI (Area Median Income), Spak Group would need to rent a two-bedroom apartment in Cedar Park for $2,150 per month — $500 per month more than I’ve ever achieved in my 10 years developing and managing rentals in West Philly. The market will reject these prices; the project will never be constructed and, as a result, neither will the affordable units.

Other requirements would have different math, but he noted that “every analysis” made, with different tweaks of the proposal, would fail without direct government subsidies.

Going back to the first cited article, we can see the problem:

Gauthier said that while developers might make less money, the potential of adding 200 income-restricted housing units a year was too promising to reverse course. The fruits of the program, however, have been minimal, and even those were achieved only by reopening the door to subsidies.

Mr Pearson, who had told me personally that he strives to keep his editorials around the old 750-word limit, was pretty kind to the Third District Councilwoman with that small paragraph. What she actually wrote was:

A complaint we’ve heard from developers since day one is that MIN will diminish the return on investment for their projects — and yes, it’s true that this legislation will require them to see lower profits than they’re accustomed to. It remains unclear to me why we should find it unacceptable for developers and investors to see less of a return, but fail to question why we continue to build housing that doesn’t meet the needs of current residents. Just because the existing system works for developers and investors doesn’t mean we should let socially irresponsible development continue, unfettered.

Opponents of this legislation say it will stymie development in my district. I have a hard time believing that. To say that commercial development is booming in University City would be an understatement — and we know that today’s workers want their jobs to be close to their homes, which will lead them to continue moving to this part of the city. MIN will ensure that this growth doesn’t displace working-class residents and that we have equity in our neighborhoods for years to come.

So, why was development booming in University City? The area is home to the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania[1]2023-24 cost of attendance, $73,494, not including housing., Drexel University, the former University of the Sciences, now part of St Joseph’s University, the very famous Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania (CHOP), along with several other places of note, and has been gentrifying since the 1960s, pushed by Penn’s programs to help faculty and staff buy there. And, of course, there’s student housing.[2]We have previously noted, and the Inky reported, on the absolute mess that the very liberal and environmentally-conscious students left when they moved out in May of 2023. The furthest left candidate … Continue reading Simply put, there were people with money to spend, and developers have chosen to make money in an area where there was money to be made. Miss Gauthier might believe that developers would blithely accept “lower profits than they’re accustomed to,” rather than considering the possibility that many would not accept “lower profits” and would simply invest their money elsewhere.

There’s more than that, or course. As we have reported previously, there is significant resistance to city projects in West Philly that some believe would lead to more gentrification in the area.

In a plan for a safer, vibrant 52nd Street, worried West Philly neighbors see gentrification looming

Angst is roiling minority neighborhoods as they struggle to balance the opportunities and the threats created by gentrification. “West Philly is the new Africa,” one resident warned at a community meeting. “Everyone wants the property that’s in West Philadelphia.”

by Jason Laughlin | February 21, 2020

The topic of the community meeting — a plan to beautify 52nd Street, to make it safe, welcoming, and prosperous once again — was, on its face, nothing but good news for West Philadelphia’s long-declining business corridor.

Yet the audience of about 50 residents and retailers, mostly African American, grew increasingly agitated as urban designer Jonas Maciunas flipped through a PowerPoint presentation of proposed improvements. Many weren’t seeing a vision of a neighborhood revitalized from Market to Pine Streets. Instead, in the talk of redesigned intersections, leafy thoroughfares, and better bus shelters, they heard the ominous whisper of gentrification.

“It just seems that when white people decide to come back to a certain neighborhood, they want it a certain way,” said Carol Morris, 68, a retired elementary school teacher.

Morris’ declaration opened the floodgates of fear and anger that recent night at the Lucien E. Blackwell West Philadelphia Regional Library. Maciunas and Jesse Blitzstein, director of community and economic development for the nonprofit Enterprise Center, which is spearheading the project, were peppered with skeptical questions ranging from the validity of surveys showing community support for the improvements to the maintenance of trees that would be planted.

Now, why would any developer want to risk his money on a project that the neighborhood doesn’t want? Who among the higher-end buyers and renters, would want to buy or rent in a neighborhood in which many of the locals don’t want beautification projects because they might bring in more white residents?

Mr Pearson also noted that Philly isn’t the only place where ‘inclusionary zoning’ hasn’t lived up to the promises made for it:

Portland, Ore., enacted inclusionary zoning in 2020 and saw a similar decline in the construction of large apartment buildings, with many developers instead opting to reduce the scale of their projects so they did not meet the threshold that required set-asides. The well-meaning measure also seems to raise the cost of existing homes.

California towns with inclusionary zoning saw housing prices increase by 20% relative to towns without it. Those kinds of spikes limit the restrictions’ potential to stave off gentrification. It isn’t much use to provide 30 new affordable apartments if the price of Philadelphia’s existing 700,000-plus homes goes up.

Gee, how ’bout that? Governments try to push and pull on the economy, doubtlessly aided by doctors of economics, yet they always seem to get it wrong.

Councilwoman Gauthier got everything wrong, because she was basing her ‘economic’ policy on what she sees as promoting ‘socially responsible development’. Well, investors don’t care about socially responsible development; they care about making money!

In the end, there’s a great fact about economics that so many people, liberals and conservatives alike, and economics professors, just don’t understand. The economy simply cannot be controlled, because the economy is 250 million taking over a billion economic decisions, every single day. Deciding whether to stop on the way to work at Wawa or just making a cup of coffee at home is an economic decision, deciding to scarf down two pieces of toast at home or grab a bagel at Dunkin’ Donuts is an economic decision. These things may seem small, and individually, they are, but when a thousand potential customers have to decide whether to get coffee and a sandwich at Ultimo Coffee or go elsewhere, because the baristas are on strike,  those things, in the aggregate, start to become influential economic decisions.

And those decisions are taken by people, not graphs or flowcharts or city councils. Miss Gauthier’s act, pushed through the Philadelphia City Council, didn’t work out the way she expected, because the economic actors she wanted to influence, took their decisions differently from what she hoped.

 

References

References
↑1 2023-24 cost of attendance, $73,494, not including housing.
↑2 We have previously noted, and the Inky reported, on the absolute mess that the very liberal and environmentally-conscious students left when they moved out in May of 2023. The furthest left candidate in the 2023 Democratic mayoral primary, Helen Gym Flaherty, received a plurality of the votes in wealthier, whiter and more heavily Asian University City.
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He can’t handle the truth!

If you’ve ever watched A Few Good men, and paid attention to Jack Nicholson’s “You can’t handle the truth!”, you’d understand that he was speaking the truth, that we want men with guns defending us, we need men with guns defending us. The truth can be uncomfortable, but the truth needs to be spoken.

As General ‘Buck’ Turgidson said, in Dr Strangelove, “The truth is not always a pleasant thing.”

Alas! A Virginia state Senator just can’t handle the truth.

Transgender Senator Storms Out of Chamber After Being Called ‘Sir’

Tuesday, February 27, 2024 | 4:31 AM EST | Updated: 6:43 AM EST

A transgender state senator stormed out of the chamber after she was incorrectly referred to as “sir” by the lieutenant governor.

The Virginia Senator Danica Roem was seen walking out of the chamber following the comment by Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, a Republican.

Dan Roem, on the left, from his Twitter feed. How many real women have you seen pose like that for a photo?

Sadly, Newsweek has adopted the same silliness as much of the credentialed media, going along with the claim of the transgendered that they are the sex they claim to be, not the sex they actually are. Senator Roem was not “incorrectly referred to as ‘sir’ by the lieutenant governor,” but correctly referred to as “sir” by Lt Governor Earle-Sears! More, his name is Dan (Daniel?) Roem, not ‘Danica.’

During her (sic) 2017 (House of Delegates) campaign, Roem hit back at comments from (Republican Bob) Marshall after he repeatedly referred to his Democratic opponent as “he” and refused to debate her (sic).

“This is just who I am,” Roem said in an advert, according to the Washington Post. “There are millions of transgender people in the country, and we all deserve representation in government.”

Really? Just who is he representing, all of the people of the 30th senatorial district in Virginia, or the ‘transgendered’? Having lived for 15½ years in Hampton, 1985 – 2000, I am disappointed in what has happened to the Old Dominion, but I guess that’s what happens when we have so many federal employees having metastasized into the northern part of the Commonwealth. The best way to turn Virginia back into a ‘red’ state? Cut back the size of the federal government!

According to Wikipedia, Mr Roem began hormone replacement therapy on December 3, 2013, when he would have been 29-years-old, but the article never mentions whether he has yet been castrated had ‘gender reassignment surgery.’ He also claims to have a boyfriend and step-daughter.

Senator Roem is a legal adult, and if he wants to take hormones, have some type of quack surgery, and call himself ‘Danica,’ that is his right. But it is also the right of sensible people to refuse to accept his cockamamie claims, refuse to accept him as being a woman, and refuse to use his preferred name, pronouns, and honorifics.

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Journolism: The credentialed media don’t exactly lie, but they conceal politically incorrect facts Is justice in Philadelphia a matter of the color of your skin?

We have used the headline, “Journolism: The credentialed media don’t exactly lie, but they conceal politically incorrect facts”, thrice before, and yup, here they go again.

The First Street Journal reported on this story at 12:07 PM EST today, which was 28 minutes after Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Ellie Rushing‘s story, but our sources were older. Fox 29 News reporter Steve Keeley published the accused’s mugshot at 10:02 AM, but he also published the (alleged) offender’s previous record, and the fact that he’d been released with a completely unsecured bond, at 7:42 PM yesterday.

The image to the left is a screen capture from the Inquirer’s website taken at 2:18 PM today; I thought it important to document it, with the newspaper’s timestamp visible.

You know what isn’t in Miss Rushing’s story, at least as published at 11:39 AM? There is absolutely no mention that Kenneth Rogers, the accused, was previously accused of attempted murder and first-degree aggravated assault last June, or that he was released with no bond in December, and, of course, the Inky used a stock photo rather than Mr Rogers’ mugshot. The newspaper seems to only publish photos of people accused of crimes if they are policemen.

Mr Rogers initial bond was set at $750,000, on June 3, 2023, requiring a cash bond of 10%, or $75,000. The accused was unable to post that bond, and languished in jail until December 15, 2023, without being convicted of anything, when he was finally released with his bond being unsecured, which means no money was posted.

Which brings us to the case of Cody Monroe Heron. As we reported on October 5, 2023, Mr Heron was charged with aggravated assault, the same charge that Mr Rogers faced last June, but he was not charged with attempted murder, as Mr Rogers was in June of 2023, and again today. District Attorney Larry Krasner and the DA’s Office requested that Mr Heron’s bail be set at $5,000,000, though it wound up being initially set at $2,500,000. We then reported, on October 16, 2023, that when Mr Heron’s attorney requested a reduction in bail, because there was no way Mr Heron could meet that $2,500,000 bail amount, it was instead increased to $4,000,000.

After four months and two days in jail, Mr Heron pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of an instrument of crime. He will be sentenced in June, and prosecutors stated that they intended to seek a sentence of three to six years in prison.

The obvious question becomes: why was Mr Heron effectively denied bail, by having it initially set more than thrice what Mr Rogers’ bail originally was, and why was it then increased by $1,500,000 while Mr Rogers was just set free? Mr Heron’s offense, while certainly serious, despite the fact that no one was actually injured, was one not likely to be repeated, while Mr Rogers’ offense was not only more likely to be repeated, and (allegedly) has now been repeated.

Miss Rushing’s story did conclude with the note that it was a developing story, and would be updated, but at least as of this publication, at 3:22 PM EST, it has not been.
__________________________________
Update! There was an update to the story time stamped at 4:44 PM EST:

On Monday, Rogers was charged with aggravated assault, robbery, making terroristic threats, and related crimes. He is being held on $750,000 bail.

This is only the latest time Rogers has been accused of violence. In just the last three years, he has twice been charged with attempted murder for allegedly stabbing two people in separate incidents. And over the last decade, he’s been in and out of jail on robbery, theft, and drug possession charges, records show.

In June 2020, Rogers was arrested after police said he stabbed his cousin in the torso. According to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest, Rogers owed his cousin about $7,000, and the two got into a fight over it near Tioga and Jasper Streets. Rogers then stabbed his cousin in the chest, puncturing his lung, and vowed to kill him before a bystander intervened, the victim told police, according to the records.

Rogers was arrested and charged with attempted murder, but after the victim failed to appear at multiple court hearings, a judge dismissed the charges, records show. The district attorney’s office refiled the charges, records show, but a judge again tossed the case after the victim failed to appear four more times at scheduled preliminary hearings.

Then, in June 2023, Rogers was again charged with attempted murder after police said he stabbed a man multiple times at the Allegheny station on SEPTA’s Market-Frankford Line in Kensington, according to the arrest affidavit.

He was originally held on $750,000 bail. But the victim in that case, who was also unhoused, did not maintain contact with victim’s services and similarly failed to appear at court hearings, said Jane Roh, a spokesperson for the DA’s office.

Following those failures to appear, Common Pleas Court Judge Nicholas Kamau in December reduced Rogers’ bail to unsecured — meaning Rogers could be released without posting bail so long as he did not violate the conditions of his release. Rogers was ordered to house arrest with an electronic monitor following an agreement that he could stay at his mother’s home, Roh said.

So, will we find that the latest victim will choose not to appear?

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When The Philadelphia Inquirer tells us more than was perhaps intended Why does DA Larry Krasner oppose a special prosecutor for crimes on SEPTA when his office can't handle the cases it has?

As is the case with many newspapers, The Philadelphia Inquirer likes to use on-hand, stock photos to illustrate some of their online stories. This one greatly amused me.

Man died after falling on SEPTA tracks, getting electrocuted at City Hall

The man — who has yet to be identified — fell on the tracks before train service began at 4:40 a.m.

by Beatrice Forman | Monday, February 26, 2024 | 7:52 AM EST | Updated: 8:16 AM EST

A man died at SEPTA’s City Hall station after falling onto the tracks early Monday morning, the transportation authority confirmed.

The incident occurred before Broad Street Line service starts at 4:40 a.m. when a man “made contact with the energized third rail” and was electrocuted, said SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch.

The man has not been identified, and it is unclear what caused him to fall.

“All we know is that he was by himself,” said Busch. “No one else was there.”

So, no foul play is suspected. Considering how much crime has been reported on SEPTA and at SEPTA train stations, that’s actually a relief, not that a story about anyone being killed is somehow good news.

But, as the newspaper continually touts public transportation, I looked closely at the photo used, and there it was, shown through the open subway car door, a man (?) keeled over in his seat, doing what? Sleeping it off, drunk, keeping warm on a winter night, or just another junkie riding the rails while riding high. The Grateful Dead’s Casey Jones, “Driving that train, high on cocaine,” comes to mind.

A hatchet attack and a shooting at SEPTA stations this weekend continued a spate of high-profile violence

Two suspects are in custody after the separate incidents occurred within hours of each other.

Latest @PhillyPolice booking photo of Kenneth Rogers,28,arrested after police say he attacked man in @SEPTA concourse with hatchet while he had active arrest warrant for attempted murder. Detectives tell me “Hopefully a Philly judge won’t release him on unsecured bail again.”

by Jeremy Roebuck and Ariana Perez-Castells | Saturday, February 24, 2024 | 10:49 PM EST |Updated: Sunday, February 25, 2024 | 10:21 PM EST

Two attacks over the weekend at SEPTA stations in Philadelphia continued a recent spate of high-profile violent crimes that have plagued the transit system.

A 20-year-old was shot on a Broad Street Line northbound subway train that had just left the Hunting Park Station just before 9 p.m. Saturday.

Then, less than five hours later, a hatchet-wielding assailant attacked another rider on the subway concourse near the SEPTA station at 8th and Market Streets, police said.

That incident occurred just before 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning. The victim told officers his attacker had struck him six times with the hatchet and kicked him four times in the face. He suffered cuts to the back of his head and bruising to his face, according to police reports on the attack.

No, of course the Inquirer didn’t publish the (alleged) “hatchet-wielding assailant’s” mugshot; it was up to Fox 29 News’ Steve Keeley to do that!

The distinguished Mr Rogers was arrested and jailed on June 3, 2023, for several charges relating to an assault, including attempted murder and aggravated assault PA 18 §2702(a)(1) with an attempt to cause serious bodily injury with extreme indifference to the value of human life. That is a first-degree felony, which under PA 18 §106 has a maximum sentence of twenty years in the penitentiary. His bail amount was set at $750,000, with a 10% minimum cash bond.

On July 5, 2023, Mr Rogers was ordered held for court. However, on December 15, 2023, he was released on an unsecured $750,000 bond, which means, for all practical purposes, no bail at all.

The Eighth Amendment guarantees a right to reasonable bail for criminal suspects; Mr Rogers had, upon his arrest, been imprisoned for a crime of which he had not been convicted, and spent six months and 12 days behind bars, without being convicted. To release a criminal suspect, without bail, who has a bail which has been set at an amount which he cannot raise, can be argued to be reasonable.

The real problem is that, in the six months and 12 days Mr Rogers was locked up, District Attorney Larry Krasner and the District Attorney’s Office had not brought Mr Rogers to trial. This isn’t even an issue of Mr Krasner and his office having ridiculously lenient policies toward crime, but simply not doing their jobs at all, not bringing a criminal accused of a violent, first-degree felony, to trial quickly enough for him not to be released.

So now, just 72 days after he was released without any bail, Mr Rogers, who is apparently homeless, is once again accused of trying to kill someone.

The Powers That Be in the City of Brotherly Love have been going full speed ahead on promoting public transportation and SEPTA, but the first step is to clean out the junkies and criminals from the buses, trains and train/subway stations, and that can’t be done until Mr Krasner and his minions start doing their jobs!