Another five bite the dust! More layoffs at The Philadelphia Inquirer

Last Tuesday, I attended a meet-and-greet presentation held by the Lexington Herald-Leader, listening to Executive Editor Richard Green and Managing Editor Lauren Gorla. It was a decent meeting, and Miss Gorla said one thing which stuck with me. While newspapers used to depend primarily on advertising, she stated that currently what my best friend used to call the Herald-Liberal is primarily funded via subscriptions, and occasional donations from philanthropic organizations.

Available was a complete list of newspaper staffers, 32 to them, of which only 17 were listed as reporters, and only 13 of which were not listed as sports reporters.

I was thinking about that when I read a series of tweets from the News Guild of Greater Philadelphia.

We are disgusted and enraged to report that The Inquirer has laid off 5 of our members today.

This is the bulletin we sent to our members a short time ago:

Less than a week after The Inquirer announced a desire to have employees increase their days working in the office in the spirit of “collaboration, inclusion, and sense of urgency about our work” today the company informed five Guild members who have been extraordinary contributors to our mission that they are being laid off. So much for collaboration and inclusion. Continue reading

The left are pro-choice on exactly one thing

There was a subscriber comment on an article in The Washington Post on the political polarization of plug in electric vehicles that made me chuckle. The commenter styling himself oneofmanyopinions wrote:

I’m not a tree hugger, but every time I hear a Republican, such as Bill Barr, say things like “they want to take our gas stoves” as justification to vote for Trump, I know I’m witnessing ignorance at a high level.

I responded, noting that immediately to the right of the article was a blurb for one entitled “Gas stoves spread harmful pollution beyond the kitchen, study finds.Continue reading

Gasoline prices will increase; the only question is how much they’ll rise before the election

I had to get gasoline in my 2010 Ford F-150 yesterday evening, which worked out to $106.03 for 32.141 gallons; that was $3.299 per gallon, and that included 10¢ off per gallon with my Kroger points. Naturally, I took a picture of the numbers on the pump, and tweeted it out, saying that it was yet another reason to retire Joe Biden.

When I opened my Facebook account this morning, I saw that I had posted, on May 1, 2020, that 87 Octane regular unleaded gasoline was $1.479 per gallon in Estill County, Kentucky that day.

Then there was this:

Biden is facing political pressure to make gas more expensive

Calls to ramp up sanctions enforcement against Russia, Iran, and Venezuela have the president in a bind

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Green virtue signaling Too bad that they don't know what they are talking about

Every so often I can see the virtue signaling of the environmentalists that just makes me laugh. Former Mayor Jim Kenney (D-Philadelphia) may have been totally inept at actually running the city, but he sure was great at getting a ‘sugary beverage tax’ passed, to fight obesity, don’t you know, that’s none of the city’s business. And even though he was fully in support of ‘my body, my choice’ when it came to women killing their yet-to-be-born children, he was adamant and aggressive in fighting the unions to get city employees who wanted to exercise bodily autonomy when it came to taking an experimental vaccine.

Then, about six years ago, in his effort to fight global warming climate change, he pushed a project to get solar power for electricity for city-owned buildings. Continue reading

But, but, but, it’s just so unfair! Caitlin Clark's new endorsement deals are all about the Benjamins

Caitlin Clark was the top NCAA women’s basketball player this past season, and was the number one draft pick by the Indiana Fever. She was the major reason that the Iowa Hawkeyes’ women’s team got more coverage this year, and that the women’s tournament drew a lot more viewers than the norm. And, as her rookie season begins, the advance television schedule shows that the Indiana Fever will get a lot more national television coverage. Continue reading

It’s all about the Benjamins

Tadej Pogačar, from his UAE Team Emirates bio.

Our family, especially our younger daughter, are fans of professional cycling. Our daughter knows all of the major players, and if my interest is more for the scenery on the European road races, I still know something about the sport.

How fanatic are our family? While watching the Tour of Scotland on television in 2022, my wife and daughter decided, upon seeing a quaint looking hotel in Ballater, Scotland, that they had to go there, which they did in October of that year. I didn’t get to go, but it worked out for me because, when our older daughter called from Kuwait, and said she got four days leave and was going to Jerusalem, I had a perfect excuse to join her there, and no one could object that it cost too much money!

The two best cyclists in the world are Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark and Tadej Pogačar from Slovenia. Mr Vingegaard rides for Team Visma/Lease-a-Bike, while Mr Pogačar is the number one rider for UAE Team Emirates. Mr Pogačar won the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021, while Mr Vingegaard won in 2022 and 2023. Alas! Mr Vingegaard was injured in a serious crash on Stage 4 of the Tour of Basque Country on April 4th, and while it’s not impossible, it is unlikely he’ll be in shape to ride in the Tour this year.

One of the primary goals of the corporate, and in the case of UAE, government, sponsors is publicity, as bike racing is especially popular in Europe, and there’s nothing that the sponsors like more than seeing their emblems featured prominently on television. And with Mr Pogačar, the UAE Team Emirates logo will be very prominently featured on television!

NBA puts logo of anti-gay government’s airline on its referees, including two who are gay and trans

Bill Kennedy and Che Flores are gay and trans NBA referees. The NBA has put Emirates patches on them despite anti-gay laws.

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#Woke TikToker chooses not to Dress for Success, and whines when she doesn’t get the job

It is no great secret that better looking people are more successful in life. This isn’t just anecdotal: several studies have researched the question and found that that attractive people are more likely to find professional success and are often offered more jobs, higher salaries, and promotions.

So, it was with some amusement that I read this; hat tip to William Teach!

“Pretty Privilege Is A Real Thing”: This Woman Was Seemingly Denied A Job After Showing Up To Her Interview Makeup-Free, And Women Are Sharing Similar Stories

Eclipse Monday, April 8, 2024 | 12:15 PM EDT

The job market today might be bleak, but job seekers everywhere still adhere to “professionalism standards” when interviewing for new roles. Continue reading

You will pay for it, and you will like it! All of the climate activists' plans involve huge increases in spending by consumers

Global warming climate change and the idiotic government policies which stem from the activists plans are supposed to be much more William Teach‘s bailiwick than mine, but I seem to have had a few recently. On Good Friday, I noted that the Biden Administration’s plans to have 500,000 commercial charging stations for plug-in electric vehicles installed by 2030 was falling very short. Philadelphia is going to ‘crack down’ on people parking on the sidewalks, something which many row home residents in the city have to do, and which means that at home charging of electric vehicles will not work for many of them. And now, The Philadelphia Inquirer has reported, though certainly not in any way to complain about government policies, just how all of this is going to fall on the consumer. Continue reading

When a reporter has more of an agenda than an understanding of economics and business.

We have twice reported on the decisions of Wawa to close down some stores in foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy Philadelphia. The late Josh Kruger complained bitterly about such.

This crime is not new, and The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the Headhouse Square Wawa “will become the sixth Center City Wawa to shutter since 2020.”

So, you would think that an article in the newspaper on food ‘deserts’ in some Philly neighborhoods would at least mention crime. But, if you did think that, you would be wrong.

About 40 million people in the United States don’t have access to a full-service grocery store

The 2023 update of the Limited Supermarket Access Study examines the lack convenient access to health food options across the nation — and in Philadelphia.

by Lynette Hazleton | Thursday, March 21, 2024 | 5:00 AM EST

What food is available has everything to do with the food stores that are available.

When the food store is a full-service supermarket, like the ShopRite in Parkside, it usually means you will have the access to a wider variety, higher-quality and lower-cost food, explained Michelle Schmitt, a senior policy analyst at The Reinvestment Fund (TRF) as she walked around the bustling 15-year-old supermarket.

As you can see, the article wasn’t produced by the regular Inquirer staff, but the Leftist Lenfest Institute for Journalism, the non-profit which owns the newspaper. I have previously noted that, as a subscriber, I sometimes receive begging for donations letters from the Leftist Lenfest Institute.

When you don’t have the same access to high quality food as you do to chips, fast food and soda, it can contribute to an unhealthy eating pattern that can ultimately lead to chronic disease.

How is it that Lynette Hazelton, the Philly native who reported this story, couldn’t bring herself to note that the densely-populated rowhouse neighborhoods which make up a significant part of the city’s neighborhoods don’t really have room for a huge Giant Food Mart? Yes, there are corner bodegas in most of the neighborhoods, where you can get those chips, fast foods, soda, beer, lottery tickets, and the occasional bullet in your chest. But the kinds of supermarkets that Miss Hazelton envisions take up around ten acres when parking lots are included.

Schmitt is the main author of the 2023 update to the Limited Supermarket Access (LSA) study which determines who is and is not well served by their grocery store. The official definition for limited supermarket access is 500 people in a low income tract where urban members are more than a mile and rural shoppers are more than 10 miles to a full service store. It is the fourth update since 2010 and the first to include Alaska and Hawaii.

The big take away: about 40 million Americans live without easy access to healthy food options.

Take Parkside, Belmont and Mantua neighborhoods of West Philadelphia. Together they are home to roughly 48,755 residents. Virtually all the blocks are very densely populated, 66% Black and almost half the people had an annual income of $25,000 in 2021, the latest data available.

This was some sloppy writing. Did Miss Hazeltom mean that $25,000 was the median income?

While this is the neighborhood many traditional stores would overlook, it is the type of neighborhood that the LSA study showed was in desperate need of a supermarket.

OK, why would “many traditional stores” overlook those neighborhoods? The author noted that “Virtually all the blocks are very densely populated,” which means less available area to put in a ten-acre supermarket. The neighborhoods are mostly poor, and grocery stores “operate on razor-thin profit margins. The industry average is between one and three percent, far below other retail sectors. With such lean margins, grocery stores rely on high sales volume and inventory turnover to thrive.” Then you throw in Philly’s crime rate, and the obvious question is easy to determine: how could a supermarket make a profit there?

Supermarkets were once associated with suburbs, and by the 1970s seven out of every ten food dollars were spent there. But also supermarkets did not place their businesses in low-income communities which lead to real consequences.

This paragraph alone tells you just how poor Miss Hazelton’s article was. The source she hyperlinked told her that grocery stores in Philly were mostly the ‘corner grocery store’ type, operating in the rowhouse neighborhoods, yet somehow, she couldn’t figure out that those neighborhood structures dictated the kinds of grocery stores that were there. In more rural areas, we had “general stores” before supermarkets were developed, and many lament that so few of those old general stores exist. Alas! The old general store that was near where I now live went out of business, became someone’s auto repair shop for a while, and is now a small volunteer fire station. Kroger and Giant and Aldi forced those old country general stores out of business, but in the suburbs and rural areas, there was the physical room for supermarkets.

Perhaps it’s as simple as the reporter having more of an agenda than an understanding of economics and business.