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LOL! A group calling itself Refuse Fascism actually advocates fascism, in seeking to deny the right of the accused to counsel But the left have always had an authoritarian streak to themselves; leftism and liberty are mutually exclusive

The left, so many of whom want to defund the police and emasculate law enforcement, will tell you that everyone deserves an attorney who will vigorously defend them in court.

Unless, of course, the defendant is Donald Trump. Then there’s Hell to pay! From The Philadelphia Inquirer:

From laughs over ‘Philly-delphia’ to vandalism at home, Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen draws backlash

by Jeremy Roebuck | February 13, 2021- 6:53 PM

Philadelphia attorney Michael T. van der Veen has taken a starring role in Donald Trump’s impeachment defense over the last two days — but he’s also incurred backlash.

Vandals smashed windows and spray-painted “TRAITOR” on the driveway of his suburban Philadelphia home Friday night, after he spent hours on the Senate floor hurling partisan invective and testily condemning the former president’s second impeachment trial as “constitutional cancel culture.”

A group of demonstrators with the group Refuse Fascism gathered outside his Center City law office chanting, “When van der Veen lies, what do you do? Convict. Convict.”

There’s more at the original. Another article from the Inquirer noted:

Michael van der Veen hired 24-hour private security for his family after vandals smashed windows and spray-painted “TRAITOR” on the driveway of his suburban Philadelphia home Friday night. He told reporters Saturday he received more than 100 death threats.

And they acknowledged being caught off guard by the level of rancor from Trump’s critics and supporters alike — even given the country’s fiercely divided politics and how other lawyers in his orbit have fared.

“I’ve been representing controversial clients for 30 years, and I’ve never experienced this type of vitriol,” said William J. Brennan, another local member of the team whose past clients include priests accused of sexual abuse and judges facing corruption charges. “We had no political agenda here. We are not partisan warriors. We are criminal defense lawyers who represented a client.”

So far, the Editorial Board has been silent, not condemning the attacks on President Trump’s defense lawyers, but, given the state of the #woke dominating the newsroom and the lack of actual journalism from the Inquirer, I wouldn’t be surprised if the editors remained silent.

The Sixth Amendment guarantees that anyone acused of a crime has the “to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.”

The hand-written copy of the proposed Bill of Rights, 1789, cropped to show the text that would later be ratified as the Sixth Amendment. Click to enlarge.

But, apparently the oh-so-tolerant left don’t believe in the Sixth Amendment and the right of the accused to defend himself and have the assistance of counsel. members of the laughably named Refuse Fascism group demonstrated outside of Mr van der Veen’s office:

Refuse Fascism has a logo as part of their Twitter biography, telling us that, “In the Name of Humanity, We Refuse To Accept a Fascist America!” But what would be more fascist than not allowing an accused defendant to have an attorney to defend himself?

This was their tweet:

Of course, were one of the members of Refuse Fascism arrested, he’d be screaming, “Lawyer! Lawyer! Lawyer!” at the top of his lungs.

In American history, we are taught that patriot John Adams served as counsel for the defense in the trial of eight British soldiers accused of murder during a riot in Boston on March 5, 1770, what was called the Boston Massacre, and he won acquittals.

Before we had our independence, before we had our Constitution and the Sixth Amendment, Mr Adams, passionate advocate of freedom, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and second President of the United States, took on the unpopular cause of defending those British soldiers, because he believed that every man deserves a defense, every man has a right to a defense.

That lesson seems to have been lost on the members of Refuse Fascism. Rather, in protesting the attorneys representing President Trump, they are protesting the right to counsel. They are not refusing fascism, but advocating it.

Of course, Refuse Fascism has an absolute right to assemble and advocate anything they wish. But I, too, have the freedom of speech, and the right to point out that Refuse Fascism is itself advocating fascist behavior.

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CBS: You Know Polar Vortices Are Not Quite As Extreme Due To ‘Climate Change’ Or Something Climate Broadcasting Sect

Is CBS Columbia Broadcasting System Or Climate Broadcasting Sect? Jeff Beradelli takes a different tact from most Warmists, who are blaming the cold and snow and ice on the melting of the Arctic because you took a long shower followed by a fossil fueled drive to get a burger

Polar vortex brings most extreme winter weather in years

From wind chills near 60 below zero in the Upper Midwest to an ice storm all the way to the Gulf Coast, it is rare that winter weather gets this extreme. The culprit is a polar vortex teaming up a very active jet stream.

That means cold, snow and ice for hundreds of millions of Americans.

On Saturday, more than two-thirds of the nation was under some kind of winter weather alert running the gamut from wind chill warnings in the northern Plains to winter storm warnings for the Pacific Northwest. There were also winter weather advisories in South Texas and ice storm warnings in the Mid-Atlantic.

A few weeks ago, the polar vortex, which is typically located near the North Pole, broke into pieces — a natural occurrence that happens every couple of winters. Smaller daughter vortices scattered around the Northern Hemisphere, bringing pockets of Arctic air to Siberia, Europe and North America.

For the past week, one of the daughter vortices has set up shop, spinning near the U.S.-Canada border. As a result, temperatures have been frigid, at times dropping below -40 degrees Fahrenheit, but the coldest of air has been confined to the far northern U.S. That’s about to change as lobes of the vortex rearrange its orientation, sending cold air south.

So, polar vortices are normal and natural. Except Warmists have been trying to blame them on Mankind, because they want to make sure that they can blame Mankind for their cultish beliefs. They’ve been saying they have become more extreme. Jeff takes it in a different route

Despite being extreme, it’s not nearly as extreme as it could be. Over the past few decades, due to human-caused climate change, the coldest extremes are getting less extreme. As one example, in Minneapolis the coldest day each year is now 12 degrees warmer than it used to be.

And that’s the only example offered, and the attached graphic only goes back to 1970, you know, the time the Earth was in a period where they were worried about a coming ice age. How does UHI and land use come into play? Yes, they are Man-caused, but, not global. Anyhow, these doomsday cultists just can’t help but drag their cult into everything.

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Chattanooga #BlackLivesMatter activist fired from public library for burning books by conservative authors

One of the reasons I like to use ‘credentialed media’ sources is so that no one can complain that my sources are evil reich-wing blogs and can’t be trusted. From the ABC News station, Channel 9 in Chattanooga:

Update: Chattanooga Library fires worker who burned library books by conservative authors

“The City of Chattanooga has policies in place to protect the public’s interest, and we follow those directives,” said Library Executive Director Corinne Hill.

by WTVC / Associated Press Sunday | December 6th 2020 | Updated: February 11, 2021

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — UPDATE (February 11th, 2021):

The Chattanooga Public Library announced in an email that Cameron Williams was fired on Wednesday for burning library books.

The email says this came after a February 5th hearing on the matter and after conversations with the City of Chattanooga Attorney.

The release says the investigation wrapped up on December 1st, and determined that Williams “violated City and Library policies by improperly removing items from the Library’s collections.”

Williams admits he burned the books, but claims he did nothing wrong, saying that the books were already set to be removed and that officials told him he could take them.

He says he and his attorney plan to appeal the library’s decision to fire him. See Isaiah Kim-Martinez’s update here.

Black Lives Matter activist Cameron Williams

Further down was what looked like links to previous stories, but had no links embedded, including “Williams previously helped organize protests against police brutality and faces charges of disorderly conduct and blocking a highway stemming from two July demonstrations.”

Let me be clear here: I would never hire, for any position involving public contact, anyone who looked like that. Nor would I ever hire anyone with any connection to #BlackLivesMatter. If someone cannot have decent, respectable grooming habits, nope, he doesn’t get hired. And having anyone on your payroll who you know is involved with attempting to defund or harm the police, who has a basically racist attitude — racist from any direction! — is something you do not want. It’s like hiring someone with any sort of “social justice” degree, such as Women’s and Gender Studies; such people are walking, talking discrimination lawsuits waiting to happen. You take their résumés, interview them if you must, and then quietly choose another candidate.

The only thing that surprises me is that Mr Williams was actually fired. I would have guessed that, in this time of the left trying to censor anything by conservatives, the library would have given him an award!

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Wood For Guitars Could Become Ruined Because You Ate A Tasty Burger Or Something

Another story of doom and gloom from the Cult of Climastrology, and it’s all your fault

Climate Change Could Shred Guitars Known for Shredding

It is the wood that the rock greats have sworn by—swamp ash, in the form of their Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars—for over 70 years. If you’ve ever listened to rock, you’ve probably heard a swamp ash, solid body guitar. But now, climate change is threatening the wood that helped build rock and roll.

In today’s podcast, veteran guitarist Jim Campilongo takes us through the finer points of swamp ash and what it would mean to lose it.

Unlike usual posts, that’s all there is. You can watch the video, which is as climacrazy as you’d expect. Just another bit of fearmongering from the cult

Here’s the thing: the majority of the Telecasters and Stratocasters, both Fender and Squier, are made of…..mostly maple, not pure swamp ash, which is generally refereed to as trees that grow underwater, though that can be stretched quite a bit. The necks are usually made from Maple, Rosewood (my favorite), and Kona, with a few others here and there. So, the whole thing story is hot garbage. A goodly chunk of other electric guitars are the same. But, how do we know that a slight warming won’t make the wood sound better? Scientific America tried this before, that’s the link in the story, from back in 2020. It’s always doom with these people.

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COVID Today: Opening Schools Without Vaccines, Shaming People Who Chase Vaccines

This is a big blow for so many of the teacher’s unions, who are trying to keep in person learning shut down. Why? Pick your own theory. Getting full pay for working from home in sweatpants, holding out for more pay, all sorts

CDC: Strong evidence in-person schooling can be done safely

The nation’s top public health agency said Friday that in-person schooling can resume safely with masks, social distancing and other strategies, and vaccination of teachers, while important, is not a prerequisite for reopening.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its long-awaited road map for getting students back to classrooms in the middle of a pandemic that has killed nearly 480,000 people in the U.S. But the agency’s guidance is just that — it cannot force schools to reopen, and CDC officials were careful to say they are not calling for a mandate that all U.S. schools be reopened.

Officials said there is strong evidence now that schools can reopen, especially at lower grade levels.

Recommended measures include hand washing, disinfection of school facilities, diagnostic testing and contact tracing to find new infections and separate infected people from others in a school. It’s also more emphatic than past guidance on the need to wear masks in school.

So, the stuff that we’ve known of over nine months. And saying that there is no need for everyone, including teachers, to be vaccinated. Plenty of essential workers have been working hard for almost a year now, going in to work, doing their jobs, taking the risk. Not so many teachers, though, and not their unions. And, yes, many are just fine going back, want to go back, and many are back. Many, especially in the hardcore Democrat areas, are not.

Biden said schools will need more money to meet the CDC’s standards and called on Congress to pass his COVID-19 package quickly to get $130 billion in aid to schools.

Here’s a question not being asked: where’s all the money that was saved for the schools not being opened for almost a year? The savings on electricity and water not being used? Not having people constantly cleaning the schools? Not having to bus kids to school, saving on paying drivers and fuel? How much does that add up to for schools across the nation? Perhaps not $130 billion, but, has to be quite a bit, right? It can’t be used for disinfecting and cleaning? Buying a few thermometers to check the kids in the morning? What else is that Biden money used for?

From the story, which isn’t quite as bad as the headline

For this vaccine chaser, the second time was the charm.

On her first attempt to get a Covid-19 shot last month, 28-year Leah Robson arrived at a Los Angeles city park at 4 a.m., waited all day with hundreds of other hopefuls, and wound up going home without the vaccination.

She tried again the next day at 2:30 a.m. at the Balboa Sports Complex in the Encino neighborhood and found six people already ahead of her in line. But this time, after another all-day wait she got her shot.

“It was worth the wait,” Robson told NBC News. “There were about a hundred shots left over at the end of the day that would have gone to waste if they weren’t used, so just about everybody I was in line with got a shot.”

The shots expire if not used, so, yes, lots of people are working to get the ones that not used and going to expire. What’s the problem? It’s a good idea. They’ve been doing it in Israel, calling it the Pizza Guy vaccination, where they just grab random people off the street to give them the unused and about to expire doses. It’s smart.

Because the vaccine doses have a shelf life of just five hours once defrosted, they have to be used that same day or they will wind up in the garbage. New websites like vaccinehunter.org and Facebook groups like New Jersey Covid Vaccine Sites and Minneapolis Vaccine Hunters have popped up to assist people looking for leftover doses.

“There’s no downside to what we’re doing here,” vaccinehunter.org website founder Brad Johnson told “NBC Nightly News.” “Any arm is better than the trash.”

No, there is no downside. Except it is mean, according to NBC News. And, apparently, raaaaacist

The vaccine chasers who are mostly white and well-to do are turning up at community centers that serve mostly minority constituencies, as has happened everywhere from Florida to California. But doctors still say it’s better not to waste the doses — just as long as the vaccine chasers don’t try to cut the line.

So what? If blacks, Asians, Latinos, etc, don’t want to do it, that’s on them.

Some state and county health departments and even hospitals, all determined not to waste the scarce vaccine doses, have created sign-up sheets where people willing to race over to a vaccination center to get a shot at a moment’s notice can register.

I’d sign up if I could find a list around here. I’ve tried, no luck.

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Mass. Climate Undersecretary Who Said “We Must Break The Will” Of Citizens Resigns

Several days ago I mentioned this guy

David Ismay, the undersecretary for climate change under Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s (R) administration, explained during a Vermont Climate Council meeting last month the majority of the Bay State’s emissions come from average people and there is “no bad guy left … to point the finger at, to turn the screws on, and you know, to break their will.” Rather, he told his fellow climate advocates, “We have to break your will,” a remark he admitted would not bode well publicly.

“You know one thing we found through our analysis is that 60 percent of our emissions come from, as I have been starting to say, you and me — except you guys are in Vermont,” he told the climate advocates at the January 25 meeting.

And now?

Mass. Climate Change Undersecretary Resigns Amid Backlash Over Comments

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s Undersecretary for Climate Change has resigned, after facing criticism over comments he made during a Zoom meeting last month.

David Ismay sent in his letter of resignation on Wednesday night to Secretary Kathleen A. Theoharides of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, also offering an apology for the remarks he made at the January Vermont Climate Council meeting.

“It is with great regret that I submit my resignation, effectively immediately,” Ismay wrote. “Serving the people of Massachusetts as part of the Baker-Polito administration has been the honor of a lifetime, and I am proud of the equitable climate solutions we achieved together.”

The comments drew criticism after they were posted in a YouTube video by the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. In the video Ismay can be heard saying lawmakers must “break the will” of consumers to address emissions and climate change.

“Sixty percent of our emissions that need to be reduced come from you — the person across the street, the senior on fixed income, right? There is no bad guy left, at least in Massachusetts, to point the finger at, to turn the screws on, and you know, to break their will, so they stop emitting. That’s you. We have to break your will. Right, I can’t even say that publicly.”

No, he apparently can’t say that publicly, because that’s letting the cat out of the bag regarding what this whole scam is about. Smaller fish in the Cult of Climastrology might be able to get away with it, but, not someone in a higher position of government. Ismay did attempt to walk his comments back a bit in his resignation, but, come on, he meant it. He was saying what the high poobahs of the CoC believe and want to do

When asked about Ismay’s remarks on Wednesday, Governor Baker said he thought the comments “did not speak for the administration in terms of tone, substance, style or anything else.”

“He does not speak for me,” Baker said. “I happen to think in all of these issues, the goal here is to balance the various interests that are involved.”

If Baker believes, why is he not giving up his own use of fossil fuels? Good luck with Massachusetts winters without fossil fuels.

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Alabama gets stupid about capital punishment A waste of time and money

Sometimes I have to wonder about the utter stupidity of some people. Willie B Smith III was sentenced to death in Alabama for the 1991 murder of Sharma Ruth Johnson in Birmingham. Mr Smith and his cronies abducted her at an ATM, forced her to withdraw $80 in cash, at which point they took her to a cemetery, upon which Mr Smith shot her in the back of the head.

The too-few readers of The First Street Journal know that I am opposed to capital punishment, but that is not the point of this article.

Mr Smith was scheduled to be executed, and requested that his pastor accompany him into the death chamber. The Department of Corrections refused, and Mr Smith’s attorney sued. The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued an injunction stating that Mr Smith had a right to have his pastor present. Alabama could have simply granted Mr Smith’s request, and proceeded with the execution, but no, the State had to get all high and mighty and appeal to the Supreme Court, where the state lost. From The Washington Post:

Supreme Court says Alabama cannot execute inmate without his pastor present

By Robert Barnes | February 12, 2021 | 8:12 AM EST

The Supreme Court said late Thursday night that Alabama could not execute a death row inmate without the man’s pastor by his side, and indicated that other states must find a way to honor final requests for a spiritual adviser in the death chamber.

The court’s order came an hour before Alabama’s self-imposed deadline of executing Willie B. Smith III, convicted of a 1991 robbery and murder. A lower court had put the execution on hold, and Alabama asked the Supreme Court to step in.

But the request divided the court’s conservative majority. For the first time since she joined the court in October, Justice Amy Coney Barrett sided with liberal colleagues in a capital punishment case, saying federal law requires states to make accommodations for prisoners like Smith.

Barrett joined an opinion by Justice Elena Kagan that said a federal law protecting the religious rights of prisoners set a high bar Alabama did not meet.

There’s more at the original.

I have to ask: why did the state not simply allow Mr Smith’s pastor into the execution chamber? If the pastor agreed to perform that onerous duty, and agreed not to be disruptive, there was no practical reason not to allow this. Faced with the injunction from the Eleventh Circuit, the State had to know that its legal position was shaky, and that if the Supreme Court declined to end the injunction, the execution date would pass with Mr Smith still breathing.

And that’s what happened. Mr Smith is still alive. As an opponent of capital punishment, I think that’s a good thing. More, it exposes just how stupid states can get when it comes to capital punishment. Pennsylvania, for instance, has 142 people on death row, but has actually executed only three men since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1974 . . . and all three men “volunteered,” voluntarily dropped all of their appeals to just get it over. Despite all of the additional costs that come with a capital sentence, the Keystone State has not been able to put anyone to death against his will!

Governor Tom Wolf (D-PA) is an opponent of capital punishment, but does not have the authority to commute death sentences without the recommendation of the state Board of Pardons and Paroles. He can, and has, refused to advance any capital sentences toward execution. But, don’t blame Governor Wolf too much; the previous Governor, Republican Tom Corbett, a strong supporter of capital punishment, signed 47 death warrants during his four years in office, and there were still no executions during his term. Is not stupidity involved in maintaining capital punishment in the Keystone State?

California has 711 people on death row, but has executed only 13 since 1976, and the last one was in 2006. Is not stupidity involved in having capital punishment in the Pyrite State?

Alabama? Well, the state has been successful in carrying out executions, 67 of them since the restoration of capital punishment. But with the stupidity, and yes, stupidity is the right word, shown by Jefferson Dunn, Commissioner of the Department of Corrections, it’s amazing that he’s been so successful. It would have been far more efficient, and less expensive, to have simply granted Mr Smith’s last request. By doing that, the state would have been able to carry out the sentence; by fighting it, the state lost, and failed to carry out the execution.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who dissented from the decision not to vacate the injunction, wrote:

Because the State’s policy is non-discriminatory and, in my view, serves the State’s compelling interests in ensuring the safety, security, and solemnity of the execution room, I would have granted the State’s application to vacate the injunction.

But the Court has a different view and denies the State’s application. Given the stays of execution here and in Gutierrez v. Saenz, it seems apparent that States that want to avoid months or years of litigation delays because of this RLUIPA (Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act) issue should figure out a way to allow spiritual advisors into the execution room, as other States and the Federal Government have done. Doing so not only would satisfy inmates’ requests, but also would avoid still further delays and bring long overdue closure for victims’ families.

In other words, Justice Kavanaugh said to states which still have the death penalty, don’t be stupid!

As the Post noted, while we know that Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Kavanaugh sided with Alabama, the votes of Justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito are not mentioned. At least one of them must have voted along with Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Steven Breyer and Amy Barrett, to form a majority.

The easiest non-stupid thing to do would be to simply eliminate capital punishment. It’s actually cheaper to imprison someone for life than it is to execute him. And Alabama’s stupidity in this case is just one more in a long list of dumb behavior the courts have had to adjudicate as states have tried to put people to death.

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Good News: Double Masking Is Just The Start, Plus, Joe Expects Masks Through 2022

See, all we need was 15 days to bend the curve. If everyone just stays home and washes their hands we’ll beat this. If everyone wears a mask we can end this. If we just get herd immunity we can end this. If most people get a vaccine we can end this. If everyone double masks we can end this

Double masking is only the start. Here are latest CDC face-covering recommendations.

The idea of double masking has been floating around for a few weeks. But now officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are weighing in.

The CDC just released results of a new study that found that double masking offers more protection for the wearer against COVID-19. But that’s not all: The CDC’s experiments also found that there are other ways to make your mask more efficient, and it largely revolves around fit.

The CDC conducted lab tests with dummies and found that exposure to potentially infectious aerosols decreased by about 95 percent when both dummies wore tightly fitted masks. Those face coverings included a cloth face mask over a “medical procedure mask,” like a surgical mask, and a surgical mask with knotted ear loops and tucked-in sides.

The CDC also found that the following helped improve mask efficiency:

  • Using a nylon covering over a mask. When it’s worn, the researchers found that this can offer more than 90 percent protection.
  • Using a mask fitter, a solid or elastic device that’s worn over the mask and secured with head ties or ear loops. When used properly over a surgical mask, researchers found that a fitter can offer more than 90 percent protection for the wearer.

It’s always something new, always something that seems to expand and extend this whole state of emergency. How much is legit? And will Government start mandating this stuff?

Opt for layers, either by double masking with a disposable mask under a cloth mask, noting that the second mask should push the edges of the interior mask against your face, or choosing a multilayer mask.

Interesting, they want us to do the thing most people hate, namely, have the mask tight on their nose and mouth. Are they seeking Compliance? Why is it that almost everything they said would stop this doesn’t work? Lockdown didn’t work.

Biden indicates that masks will be worn through next year

President Biden visited the National Institutes of Health complex on Thursday and he spoke about the U.S. vaccine supply and his goals for the rollout, but he also indicated that mask-wearing will likely be a reality for the next year.

He told reporters that even though he was standing on stage about 10 feet from Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins, he would continue to wear his mask. He said that wearing the mask “though the next year” can save a significant number of lives.

Health officials have stressed that even with effective vaccines, many of the same safety protocols will have to remain in place until there is clear herd immunity. But if and when that is achieved seems to be anyone’s guess.

Do you think people will Comply with wearing masks all of 2022, much less through the end of 2021? Will the 30 states with mask mandates comply, or start removing those mask mandates? Will companies start blowing off the mandates? It always seems as if there is something new with these folks.

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The sad, sad decline of The Philadelphia Inquirer

I ran across a photo if the masthead of The Philadelphia Inquirer from February 25, 1953, and noticed the ‘taglines’ that it used: “Public Ledger” and “An Independent Newspaper for All the People”. By Public ledger, the Inquirer was setting itself up as Philadelphia’s newspaper of record, which Wikipedia defines as “a major newspaper with large circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative.” That Wikipedia article named four newspapers of record for the United States: The New York Times (Founded 1851), The Washington Post (1877), The Los Angeles Times (1881) and The Wall Street Journal (1889). First printed on Monday, Jun1 1, 1829, the then Pennsylvania Inquirer is older than any of them. “An editorial in the first issue of The Pennsylvania Inquirer promised that the paper would be devoted to the right of a minority to voice their opinion and ‘the maintenance of the rights and liberties of the people, equally against the abuses as the usurpation of power.’”

Boy has that changed! As has happened to other great newspapers, the newsroom of the Inquirer was captured by the young #woke, who forced the firing resignation of Executive Editor and Senior Vice President Stan Wischnowski over the headline Buildings Matter, Too.

“Devoted to the right of a minority to voice their opinion”? Yeah, that failed, too, as the Inquirer closed comments on the majority of its articles, stating that:

Commenting on Inquirer.com was long ago hijacked by a small group of trolls who traffic in racism, misogyny, and homophobia. This group comprises a tiny fraction of the Inquirer.com audience. But its impact is disproportionate and enduring.

Really? How do they know? How can they be sure that these views do not represent more than a “tiny fraction” of their audience? Have they really done the research, or was it just that the #woke didn’t like the idea that the riff-raff could express their opinions? “An Independent Newspaper for All the People”? No, the Inquirer has now become a non-profit newspaper for the left.

There’s a reason I’ve called it The Philadelphia Enquirer, mocking its name by using the same spelling as the National Enquirer.[1]RedState writer Mike Miller called it the Enquirer, probably by mistake, so I didn’t originate it, but I thought it very apt.

Before I retired, I used to pick up a copy of the Inquirer at the Turkey Hill in downtown Jim Thorpe, on my way to the plant. I read it, as did my drivers, though they sometimes said I should have picked up the Allentown Morning Call instead, being somewhat closer to local news. I read a lot of stories in the Inquirer, about the killings of Philadelphia police officers, I noted how the newspaper didn’t really care much about the murders of young black men in the city, but has the killing of cute little white girl Rian Thal splashed through the paper for days.[2]That site search for Rian Thal returned 3,128 results! Think the Inquirer was obsessed much, or were they just printing what the editors thought their readers wanted to see?

So, I’m sad to see what the Inquirer has become. They write about “gun crime” as though an inanimate object somehow jumps up and shoot people all by itself, because it’s just too politically incorrect to note that that “gun violence” is disproportionately committed by black Philadelphians. The editors have dozens and dozens of articles claiming that #BlackLivesMatter, when it has become obvious, to anyone who reads the newspaper, that black lives don’t matter, unless they are taken by a white police officer.

Despite the fact that I said I wouldn’t, I finally subscribed to the digital edition of the Inquirer, after Mrs Pico kept telling me to do so rather than try to get copies of stories for free and then have to manually type them into my blog articles. But the paper has gone downhill, even from just ten years ago.

References

References
↑1 RedState writer Mike Miller called it the Enquirer, probably by mistake, so I didn’t originate it, but I thought it very apt.
↑2 That site search for Rian Thal returned 3,128 results! Think the Inquirer was obsessed much, or were they just printing what the editors thought their readers wanted to see?