Category Archives: Culture

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Money talks University presidents are learning the hard way: promoting anti-Semitism costs schools deep-pockets donors

As we previously reported, on Friday the 13th, Marc Rowan, University of Pennsylvania alumnus, Wharton school of business graduate and CEO of Apollo Global Management based in New York, called on UPenn alumni and supporters to “close their checkbooks” until President Liz Magill and Chairman Scott L. Bok step down, saying that under their leadership, the college had embraced anti-Semitism. The linked article from The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that all four of the protesting trustees were Jewish.

And now there’s this:

Penn president said university ‘should have moved faster’ in opposing Palestine Writes speakers with a history of antisemitism

Liz Magill’s comments came within days of a trustee’s resignation over Penn’s handling of the event and after several heavyweight donors withdrew funding support.

by Susan Snyder | Sunday, October 15, 2023 | 2:53 PM EDT | updated: 6:12 PM EDT

The University of Pennsylvania “should have moved faster” to share its position strongly against some speakers with a history of antisemitism appearing at the Palestine Writes festival held on campus last month, the school’s president said in a statement to the campus community Sunday.

Liz Magill’s email comes one day after major donor Jon Huntsman Jr., former governor of Utah and former U.S. ambassador to Russia, China, and Singapore, said his family’s foundation would halt donations to Penn, which he said has “become deeply adrift in ways that make it almost unrecognizable,” according to the Daily Pennsylvanian, the student newspaper, which obtained and published his email to Magill. Continue reading →

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Another (alleged) groomer arrested The Philadelphia Inquirer's editors must be hopping mad!

Well, I got it wrong!

When I first heard about this story, via a tweet from Steve Keeley of Fox 29 News, I guessed that, when and if The Philadelphia Inquirer covered this story, a crucial piece of information would be omitted. After all, when the newspaper covers crime, it routinely censors all references to race in its crime stories, so, even though race is not involved in this story, I guessed that censorship would be used.

Special education teacher charged with sex assault of students at Burlington County elementary school

Vincent Root, 58, of Philadelphia, worked at Chatsworth Elementary School. He was taken into custody Thursday morning, prosecutors said.

by Robert Moran | Friday the Thirteenth, October 2023 | 9:08 PM EDT | Updated: 9:30 PM EDT

A 58-year-old Philadelphia man has been charged with sexually assaulting students while working as a special education teacher in Burlington County.

Vincent Root, who taught at Chatsworth Elementary School, was taken into custody Thursday morning at the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office in Mount Holly and was being held pending a detention hearing.

School district officials said Root has been placed on administrative leave and has been banned from school property, Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw said in a news release.

Continue reading →

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How many people knew about Josh Kruger’s (alleged) activities?

We have previously noted the perhaps-not-so-surprising developments in the murder of Josh Kruger, something of a minor celebrity in the City of Brotherly Love. Mr Kruger was shot at his residence in the Point Breeze neighborhood, and the alleged killer’s family have made the claim that Mr Kruger had a sexual relationship with the shooter when the shooter was only 15 years old. Continue reading →

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A surprising (?) new twist in the Josh Kruger case This looks to me to be a set-up for Robert Davis' legal defense

There were rumors floating around for a couple of days now that 39-year-old Josh Kruger, shot to death in his home at 2346 Watkins Street in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Philadelphia, allegedly by 19-year-old Robert Edmond Davis, had not only been in a ‘relationship’ with Mr Davis, but had been so while Mr Davis was still a minor. What I did not expect is that, even if true, The Philadelphia Inquirer would report on them:

Family of man wanted for killing Josh Kruger says the 19-year-old and the journalist shared sex and drugs

The assertions by Robert Davis’ mother and older brother add new complexities to a killing that has garnered national attention.

Continue reading →

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1,891 lives saved in Kentucky!

I’m sure that columnist Linda Blackford and the rest of the editorial staff of the Lexington Herald-Leader are aghast, but almost 1,900 lives were saved!

Kentucky abortions dropped by nearly half last year, showing impact of statewide bans

by Alex Aquisto | Thursday, October 5, 2023 | 4:48 PM EDT | Updated: 5:11 PM EDT

The number of reported abortions provided in Kentucky last year dropped by roughly 43 percent, according to new annual report tracking the medical procedure.

The reduction in legal pregnancy terminations correlates directly with the commonwealth’s trigger law banning abortion and a six-week ban, both of which became enforceable last summer with the overturning of federal abortion protections by the U.S. Supreme Court. Continue reading →

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The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Editorial Board know better than you MAGAts and deplorables how to rear your children! Just sit down and shut up, you MAGA extremists!

Hillary Clinton said the quiet point out loud, saying “At some point maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the (MAGA) cult members.” I’m pretty sure that the Editorial Board of The Philadelphia Inquirer, who are very, very upset that some parents do not want their children exposed to groomer material, agree!

Book bans have no place in a free society | Editorial

Pennsylvania ranks among the top states for book bans in schools. Legislators in Harrisburg must take a stand against censorship.

by The Editorial Board | Saturday, October 7, 2023 | 6:00 AM EDT

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel about a firefighter who burns down houses that own books. The 1953 novel, which some have tried to ban over the years, is set in an unnamed city in the distant future.

In many ways, that disturbing future doesn’t feel too far removed from what’s happening right now.

By one count, there were more than 3,300 instances of banned books in public schools across the country during the last academic year — a 33% increase compared with 2021-22. Efforts to challenge and take books off the shelves have overtaken school boards and local libraries nationwide, dividing towns and pitting neighbor against neighbor.

The Philadelphia suburbs are ground zero for many of the book bans in Pennsylvania, which ranks among the top states for book bans in schools. It is a shameful distinction for a state founded by William Penn as a haven for religious freedom for fellow Quakers.

You know, I agree with the article headline: “Book bans have no place in a free society.” But what the Editorial Board have missed is that, when it comes to the public schools, we are not talking about a free society! Pennsylvania, like every other state, has a compulsory education law, requiring that youngsters between certain ages attend school! While parents do have the option of sending their kids to a private school or to homeschool them — if they follow government regulations — they are also required to pay property taxes to support the public schools anyway. Continue reading →

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More media tributes for the connected white guy in Philly.

We have previously noted how the Philadelphia media have been all over the story of the murder of freelance journalist Josh Kruger in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Police Department now have an arrest warrant for 19-year-old Robert Edmond Davis, charging him with murder and other crimes. Mr Davis was not in custody when the Police Department made the announcement, but one obvious point: if the police have not yet arrested Mr Davis, yet they have a mug shot of him, he has been arrested on other charges previously. It turns out that he was, to use the euphemism, “known to the police.”

And while Mr Davis mugshot is all over social media now, The Philadelphia Inquirer, declined to publish Mr Davis’ mugshot.

Police are searching for a 19-year-old man they believe killed Josh Kruger

Police are searching for Robert Davis, who they believe shot Kruger to death early Monday.

by Ellie Rushing | Friday, October 6, 2023 | 1:33 PM EDT | Updated: 2:52 PM EDT

Philadelphia police have issued an arrest warrant for a 19-year-old man they believe killed Josh Kruger, the local journalist fatally shot in his home earlier this week, officials said Friday.

Police are searching for Robert Davis, who investigators believe was an acquaintance of Kruger’s before he allegedly shot him multiple times Monday morning inside his Point Breeze home. The warrant includes charges for murder and related crimes, police said. Davis remains at large.

Lt. Hamilton Marshmond of the Homicide Unit said Kruger, 39, had been trying to help Davis, who was facing various troubles including homelessness.

“He was just trying to help him get through life,” Marshmond said.

We are, of course, not surprised in the least that the Inky did not publish Mr Davis’ mugshot, even if there was a possibility that such would help the police apprehend him more rapidly. After all, the Inquirer itself told us that, to meet publisher Elizabeth ‘Lisa’ Hughes’ requirement that it become an “anti-racist news organization,” the newspaper would censor the news, saying that the newspaper would be review its crime reporting practices.

Marshmond said Davis was known to police and had been arrested before, but declined to elaborate on officers’ earlier interactions with him. Court records show that Davis was arrested in August and charged with criminal trespassing and mischief, but the District Attorney’s Office withdrew the charges at a preliminary hearing the following month. Continue reading →

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Larry Krasner and the equal application of the law

The Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States specifies:

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Larry Krasner, the George Soros-sponsored, police hating defense lawyer who is currently serving as Philadelphia’s District Attorney says, in his brief Twitter bio, that he “fights for equal justice for the great people of Philadelphia. A fair and effective criminal justice system makes us safer.” Remember that: Mr Krasner is telling us that he seeks fairness. Continue reading →

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Being taught about white privilege, by The Philadelphia Inquirer

It has been pointed out countless times on The First Street Journal that The Philadelphia Inquirer only cares about individual homicides when the victim is an ‘innocent,’ a person already of some note, or a cute little white girl.

And so it has been with the killing of Josh Kruger. Continue reading →