Tag Archives: #FreedomOfThePress

Posted on by

Why does The Philadelphia Inquirer, which won’t publish mugshots of real criminals, make deliberate exceptions for police officers convicted of crimes?

We have previously covered the death of 12-year-old Thomas “TJ” Siderio, sent to his eternal reward after he shot at police. Naturally, then-Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw suspended and then fired Police Officer Edsaul Mendoza, and, despite the Commissioner declining to publicly name the officer, for his safety, The Philadelphia Inquirer ferreted out his name and published it. Naturally, the George Soros-sponsored, police-hating, softer-than-Charmin-on-crime District Attorney Larry Krasner charged Officer Mendoza with among other things, first degree murder and third-degree murder. Now, two years later, Mr Mendoza has pleaded guilty of doing his job:

Former Philly cop who shot and killed 12-year-old T.J. Siderio pleads guilty to third-degree murder

Continue reading →

Posted on by

The journolism of The Philadelphia Inquirer

We have frequently used the terms ‘journolism,’ or ‘journolist’, the spelling of which comes from JournoList, an email list of 400 influential and politically liberal journalists, the exposure of which called into question their objectivity. And we have also mockingly referred to The Philadelphia Enquirer: RedState writer Mike Miller called it the Enquirer, probably by mistake, so I didn’t originate it, but, reminiscent of the National Enquirer as it is, I thought it very apt.

Now here they go again! Continue reading →

Posted on by

You in a heap o’ trouble, boy! Once again, The Philadelphia Inquirer censors part of the story.

Can someone tell me why I am paying $285.48 per year for a newspaper which censors the news?

When I first saw this photo in The Philadelphia Inquirer on Thursday, I immediately asked myself, “Self, is that really a girl?” So, I read a story I might normally have skipped.

Bensalem teen faces 15 to 40 years in prison for killing a 12-year-old girl and showing her corpse on Instagram

Ash Cooper admitted her guilt Thursday and was sentenced to prison.

by Rodrigo Torrejón | Thursday, March 21, 2024 | 3:41 PM EDT | Updated: 6:02 PM EDT

A Bensalem teen who shot and killed a 12-year-old girl, then displayed her corpse in an Instagram video call as she sought help in hiding her crime will spend 15 to 40 years in prison after admitting her guilt Thursday.

Ash Cooper, 18, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and related crimes in the shooting death of Morgan Connors in the trailer Cooper shared with her father in the Top of the Ridge Trailer Park in November 2022.

In accepting the guilty plea, Bucks County Court Judge Jeffrey L. Finley decried Cooper’s actions and lamented Morgan’s death.

“It’s a horrible tragedy,” he said. “A tragedy no family should ever have to undergo.”

It turns out that “Ash” Cooper is actually Joshua Cooper, as reported by London’s Daily Mail. The Inquirer did leave a clue, in that the hyperlinks in the newspaper’s story took us to stories noting that the killer was named Joshua Cooper at the time those stories were published, but if you read reporter Rodrigo Torrejón’s story, there isn’t the first indication that the murderer is actually a male.

The Daily Mail also told us things that the Inky decided to omit:

Cooper, who was 16 at the time of the murder, also allegedly told police she and Connors were in a sexual relationship. . . .

During the investigation, officials discovered Cooper was accused of sexual assault in a previous unrelated case. She was found guilty in juvenile court.

The victim was in court on Thursday as Cooper received his sentence.

So, not only was young Mr Cooper, 16 at the time, having sex with a 12-year-old, but he was previously convicted of a sexual assault on a different person. How is it that the Daily Mail, from 3,500 miles away had this, but the Inquirer couldn’t get that information from a bordering county?

Well, of course the reporters at the Inky knew. The first story on the murder appeared on November 26, 2022, and the second on March 6, 2023, at which point he was still identified as Joshua Cooper. Now, after that time, we find out that young Mr Cooper is ‘transitioning’, trying to become a girl, and no one asks, “Is he really transgendered and ‘transitioning,’ or is he just doing this to stay out of adult men’s prison?” As you can see from the Daily Mail’s photo, Mr Cooper is not exactly a big guy, and perhaps he had watched NCIS, and saw the scene in which Leroy Jethro Gibbs tells a couple of young college kids, “Believe me, son, you will not do well in prison.”

Were I to ask the editors of the newspaper why they concealed the fact that young Mr Cooper is ‘transgender,’ and referred to him in exclusively feminine terms, they might tell me that hey, that has nothing to do with the murder. I would reject that argument, since it’s obvious that the previously convicted sex criminal was also f(ornicating) young Miss Connors — the London newspaper noted that court records stated that the victim’s body “was found laying facedown with her pants around her ankles” — and that the victim’s state of undress indicated that something sexual had occurred. More, the fact that Mr Cooper is claiming to be a girl will have a huge impact on to which prison he will be sent for hopefully the full forty years. One of us wonders on how the newspaper will cover that story.

Posted on by

Political speech by public school teachers

The hand-written copy of the proposed articles of amendment passed by Congress in 1789, cropped to show just the text in the third article that would later be ratified as the First Amendment.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Having been incorporated by the Supreme Court to apply to state and municipal governments as well, it presents a high bar to governments to restrict speech. However, one place in which governments, and employers, can restrict speech is when the speaker is at work; no one reasonably holds that an employee could harm his employer through his at-work speech. We also have laws prohibiting government employees from political activities while working at their jobs.

Well, this story caught my eye:

Central Bucks says teacher’s anti-Israel social media posts don’t violate policies. Some parents say he’s ‘brainwashing’ kids.

Youssef Abdelwahab, a Spanish teacher and adviser to Central Bucks West’s Muslim Student Association, has posted extensively on social media criticizing Israel.

by Maddie Hanna | Saturday, March 16, 2024 | 5:00 AM EDT

A Central Bucks West High School teacher did not break district rules with his anti-Israel advocacy, district officials said this week after reviewing complaints by parents that his social media posts spread antisemitic content and inspired a Muslim student group to do the same.

Complaints about Youssef Abdelwahab, a Spanish teacher and adviser to the high school’s Muslim Student Association, were investigated by the Central Bucks School District, according to acting superintendent James Scanlon, who said he couldn’t provide details on personnel matters.

“There were no policy violations,” Scanlon said.

Several parents criticized Abdelwahab during a school board meeting Tuesday night, accusing him of “brainwashing” students through an Instagram account set up for a business he runs selling durag head coverings with designs inspired by kaffiyehs, a traditional Arab headdress viewed by supporters of the Palestinian cause as a symbol of fighting for Palestinian rights. Abdulwahab’s critics have also circulated a 45-page letter addressed to Scanlon that called for his firing.

So far, that’s just news, and while I completely and unambiguously support Israel, I also support Mr Abdelwahab’s First Amendment rights to believe and say and publish whatever foolishness he wants.

But I do not support him being allowed to do so in school.

Very far down:

Teachers’ speech has been controversial in Central Bucks in recent years. The new Democrat-led board recently rolled back a policy enacted by the previous Republican majority that barred teachers from advocating to students about “partisan, political or social policy issues.” The measure was criticized as targeting Pride flags and support for LGBTQ students.

Odd how it doesn’t seem to have been criticized as having prohibited teachers supporting Donald Trump or conservative policies. Those have as little place in the public schools as supporting homosexuality and transgenderism.

The letter to district officials charged that Abdelwahad had violated that policy while it still was in effect, alleging that he “advocated to students” through his Instagram account and his role with the Muslim Student Association.

The letter highlighted a poster at the high school for a Feb. 27 event hosted by the association encouraging students to protest the state’s financial support for Israel. The poster invited students to “collectively write a letter to PA state treasurer listing ways we can better use the $$ here in PA, rather than for killing more innocents in Gaza.”

Under the direction of another teacher, Central Bucks students wrote letters in support of Israel, according to a former Central Bucks West student who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting. “The situation is deeply insensitive to our Palestinian students,” said the former student, Ginny Morgan, who came to the U.S. as a Syrian refugee and described being bullied and targeted by jokes about 9/11 while a student in the district.

It ought to be obvious: teachers should not be pushing students politically in either direction.

Morgan also pushed back on criticism of students wearing kaffiyehs, which the letter to Scanlon described as popularized by former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Wearing a keffiyeh is “hate speech that is made to evoke a fear reaction in Jewish and Israeli students when they see it,” the letter said, citing case law to contend that student free speech — while largely protected — is not unlimited in public schools.

So, it seems that precious little feelings on both sides are being hurt. But unless the school is going to mandate uniforms, students can wear kaffiyehs if they wish . . . and kippahs as well, though the article did not mention them. The two are different in one respect: a kaffiyeh is a political symbol, while a kippah is a religious one. High school students are not exactly known for their sense of moderation.

If Mr Abdelwahad is stupid enough to support the rapists and murderers in Hamas, out-of-school, that’s his right. But the district does need to be monitoring more closely the political speech of teachers and staff while in school.
__________________________________
Also posted on American Free News Network. Check out American Free News Network for more well written and well reasoned conservative commentary.

Posted on by

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.
__________________________________
Also posted on American Free News Network. Check out American Free News Network for more well written and well reasoned conservative commentary.

Posted on by

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!

Posted on by

This is how newspapers can once again grow and thrive Newspapers have a value that television news does not, but editors and publishers are not trying to sell it

My good friend Robert Stacy McCain, formerly a professional newspaper reporter, wrote:

Sitting here with my office TV tuned to CNN — I watch CNN, so you don’t have to — I’m struck by the arrogance of their assumption that they get to decide what is and is not newsworthy, as if their audience had no other source of information about what’s going on in the world, and no desire to know anything else except what CNN is “reporting.”

The only difference between CNN and Fox News — other than the leggy reporterettes on Fox — is that CNN runs the same eight stories a day, where Fox only has five. If their audience truly does have no other source of information, they’re going to be fairly uninformed.

My Washington Post subscription, which is the least expensive one I have.

Some have mocked the fact that I subscribe to five newspapers, an expensive hobby, to be sure, because, with my nearly dead ears I prefer to read the news than watch or listen to it, but another aspect of newspapers is that they have more than a few stories a day. The homepage of The Philadelphia Inquirer’s website currently shows 72 separate stories, and if more than a few of them are a couple of days old, that’s still a lot. Even a smaller McClatchy newspaper, the Lexington Herald-Leader, currently has 54 stories showing on its website main page at the moment.

How much do people lose by not reading newspapers anymore? Even the stories that CNN and Fox do cover are rarely covered in a lot of detail; only the things which show well on television get covered, because that is the limitation of the visual and entertainment medium.

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

That is not to say that newspapers do not have their own biases, in their news coverage as well as editorial sections. The Inquirer most certainly does, and what my, sadly late, best friend used to call the Herald-Liberal does as well, though sometimes not as blatantly. But it’s easier to sift through the bias, and see where the bias is, to get around that, when the medium is the written word, when the reader can go back and reread a particular sentence or paragraph. As I have written previously, the credentialed media don’t exactly lie, but they conceal politically incorrect facts.

This is what newspapers need to sell! CNN’s eight stories and Fox’s five, hammered relentlessly toward audiences which come-and-go through the day, shouldn’t be able to compete with the dozens newspapers offer. Yeah, it takes the fact that I already know a lot, to find the parts that are omitted, and a jaundiced eye to see them, but for an at least reasonably-well educated reader — like Jethro Bodine, I is a sixth-grade graduate! — newspapers can and should be the medium of choice. And this is where Gabriel Escobar and Daniel Pearson of the Inky, and Richard Green of the Herald-Leader, need to concentrate their efforts.

Posted on by

Why do the credentialed media hide the news? Two police officers and a paramedic murdered, and the professional media are ignoring the story as much as they can

My good internet friend Robert Stacy McCain noted that the local police and credentialed media decided to keep secret the identity of the “suspect” who murdered two police officers and a paramedic on Sunday in the Minneapolis suburb of Burnsville.

Mr McCain noted:

(The alleged suspect) petitioned the court in 2020 to have his gun rights restored, which a judge denied.

However, the Associated Press reported:

The suspect, who officials said had multiple guns and large amounts of ammunition, also died.

Clearly, clearly! this report must be false. Since the (alleged) suspect was legally prohibited from owning or possessing firearms, he couldn’t possibly have had the weapons in question.

The only reasonable answer is that one of the children in the house owned and had the firearms, one of the kids shot the police officers and fireman, and the (alleged) suspect, in nobly trying to shield the children, wound up sacrificing his life.

I started this article early, but put it on the shelf, waiting to see if The Philadelphia Inquirer would update it, but nope, the 8:28 AM EST version of the story is the last one posted. More, it no longer shows on the main page of our nation’s third oldest newspaper, and the newspaper of record for the sixth largest city, and seventh largest metropolitan area in our country. And a site search for Shannon Gooden, made at 4:50 PM EST, the (alleged) suspect, returned nothing connected with this story.

Mr McCain, and many others, have wondered why the credentialed media kept the name, and thus the photo, of the (alleged) suspect under wraps, and many have suggested that it is because Mr Gooden is black, and that had he been a MAGA hat wearing white male, his name and image would have been all over the news. Perhaps that’s true, though there’s at least the possibility that the police were waiting until Mr Gooden’s family had been notified.

But it wasn’t just the Inky which never updated a story to identify Mr Gooden. A Google search for Shannon Gooden, conducted at 5:10 PM EST, returned only one national news source, CBS News, with the story on the first page. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune and Duluth News-Tribune, both had stories, but they’re local news sources, not national.

Two police officers and a fireman working as a paramedic, murdered, and this story is being quickly memory-holed.

Posted on by

More proof that The Philadelphia Inquirer and District Attorney Larry Krasner side with the thugs, not the police.

I have frequently referred to the District Attorney of Philadelphia as the “George Soros-sponsored, police-hating and criminal-loving Larry Krasner,” and he goes out of his way to prove me right. He loves to cut real criminals a break, and charge Philadelphia Police officers with crimes whenever he can. The incident was during the riots over the unfortunate death while being arrested of the methamphetamine-and-fentanyl-addled, previously convicted felon George Floyd in Minneapolis, when the Usual Suspects went wild in the City of Brotherly Love.

Ex-Philadelphia police inspector found not guilty of assaulting protester during 2020 racial justice demonstrations

Joseph Bologna was acquitted by a Philadelphia jury on charges of simple assault and possessing an instrument of a crime.

by Jesse Bunch | St Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2024 | 12:37 PM EST | Updated: 6:24 PM EST

Joseph Bologna, the former Philadelphia police inspector accused of assaulting a Temple University student with a baton during the 2020 protests over the killing of George Floyd, was not guilty of assault, a jury determined Wednesday.

The Philadelphia jury found Bologna, 57, not guilty of simple assault and possessing an instrument of crime, reaching the decision in about 30 minutes.

In roughly half an hour, huh? That tells us that the jury, which had to be unanimous, had no hesitation at all, that whatever case he believed he had, Mr Krasner and his minions came nowhere close to convincing the jurors.

Bologna’s defense lawyer Fortunato N. Perri Jr. told the jury during closing arguments that his client’s life had been a “nightmare” during the 3½ years since he was arrested for his actions, which took place during the June 1 melee on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Center City.

The Philadelphia Police Department faced heavy scrutiny over its use of force during that summer’s protests over racial injustice and police brutality. That includes Bologna, who was accused by multiple people of using excessive force during demonstrations.

Really? Accused by whom? The police-hating demonstrators themselves?

Of course, The Philadelphia Inquirer went all-in on screaming, “Police brutality,” like a typical villain, caricatured lawyer, or street preacher in a police show like Blue Bloods!

City settles three civil rights suits against former police Inspector Joseph Bologna for $267,500

“It makes you wonder what they were thinking out there,” one attorney said. “It was a police brutality protest, and you respond to it with the sort of thing that’s being protested?”

by William Bender | Friday, December 23, 2022 | 5:00 AM EST

In the spring of 2020, as civil unrest erupted across the country following the murder of George Floyd, video clips that circulated on social media showed how a volatile situation could explode into chaos when Philadelphia Police Inspector Joseph Bologna got involved.

I do not like using photos from the Inquirer, but this article demands it, under Fair Use guidelines. I included it to show the caption that the newspaper used:

Joseph Bologna, then an inspector with the Philadelphia Police Department, repeatedly appeared in videos during the spring of 2020, escalating already volatile confrontations with protesters. Three lawsuits against him were settled this year.

Inflammatory much? Back to the body of the article:

At 10th and Market Streets, for example, a young woman appeared to tap Bologna’s bicycle tire with her foot as they passed each other while crossing the street. Bologna, then the operations commander for the department’s patrol bureau, reacted violently. He threw his bike, lunged at her, and tackled her to the ground.

Also see: Don Surber, “Let newspapers die; They dropped objectivity and with it credibility long ago“

That, in turn, set off a wave of pushing, shoving, and cursing between protesters and police officers.

In other videos, Bologna was seen wielding his collapsible metal baton like a hammer in search of a nail.

Really? Did Mr Krasner or his minions fail to present these videos to the jury trying him, or did that jury not see what reporter William Bender tell readers that they showed?

No responsible editor of a (purportedly) unbiased media source would ever have allowed an article written in that manner to be published, not as news, under which it was listed.

Mr Bologna had the charges against him dismissed by Municipal Court Judge Henry Lewandowski III, in January of 2021, when he ruled that the prosecution had not presented sufficient evidence to establish that Inspector Bologna’s use of his baton against Evan Gorski — captured on video — amounted to a crime.

Mr Krasner’s reaction? He refiled the charges against Mr Bologna the following month, saying, “Philadelphians demand evenhanded justice and we are trying our very best to give them exactly that.” Of course, the DA had dismissed the arresting charges against Mr Gorski, showing you that the District Attorney was not being evenhanded, but a partisan favoring the protesters.

Back to the first article cited:

District Attorney Larry Krasner, when asked about Bologna’s acquittal during an unrelated news conference, said that he had no criticism of the jury’s decision, but that his office was “obviously hoping for a different verdict.”

“I know that the culture in the system, the culture in society, tends to give every benefit of the doubt to law enforcement who are charged with crimes,” Krasner said. “We accept this outcome. I am proud of the fact that our investigations unit worked so hard to try to get justice in ways that my predecessors never even tried.”

In other words, the DA and his minions went after Mr Bologna as hard as they could, including the refiling of dismissed charges, yet they were unable to come up with anything sufficient, in a case which lasted barely a day in the courtroom, to persuade even a single juror to even push deliberations beyond the bare minimum. How could the super-duper legal eagles in the District Attorney’s office not know that they really had no case?

After the trial, Gorski said that although he understood the jury’s decision based off of admissible evidence, he was “ultimately disappointed” with the outcome.

Gorski said he would still like an apology from Bologna, but his expectations are low after he didn’t receive one during his civil lawsuit against the city that settled for $175,000 in 2022.

Not only does Mr Gorski not deserve an apology, he ought to get a hearty, “F(ornicate) you!” from Mr Bologna, and the rest of the Philadelphia Police Department.

“A jury of Joe Bologna’s peers listened intently to the evidence presented at trial and rendered a fair and just verdict,” Roosevelt Poplar, the police union’s president, said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

Asked whether Bologna would try to get back his job with the Philadelphia Police Department, Perri said his client would “look at all his options.” Later in the day, the FOP confirmed that it would begin the process of getting Bologna reinstated.

“Hopefully, he gets back to work,” Perri said.

The average Chief Inspector salary in Philadelphia, PA is $97,661 as of January 26, 2024, but the salary range typically falls between $81,643 and $116,751. Former Inspector Bologna should receive 3½ years of back pay, and restoration of all pensions and benefits. And he should be restored to his position with the Department.