Free Republic

Few people were reportedly in attendance at a Joe Biden rally in Philadelphia on Wednesday, despite Pennsylvania being an important swing state for him to win.Photos showing vast spaces of emptiness at the Philadelphia rally began to circulate on Wednesday from New York Post reporter Steven Nelson.“Photos from President Biden’s Philadelphia rally: the school’s gym is only about half full of supporters A good amount of space is empty and spacious press workspace takes up the rest,” Nelson noted on X.Pennsylvania represents one of the many swing states Biden would have to win to defeat former President Trump in November....

---SNIP--- Every day, SEPTA employees see criminal acts, fare evasion, people experiencing mental illness, homelessness, or drug addiction. The union I lead, Transport Workers Union Local 234, which represents 5,000 SEPTA workers, has been sounding the alarm that unless conditions improve, the very survival of the public transit system is at stake. In response, we have been asked by image-conscious SEPTA managers and other public officials to tone things down and not draw too much attention to the transit agency’s challenges.

A teenager was killed and four other people were injured in a shooting at a north Philadelphia bus stop on Monday afternoon, police said. The city’s police commissioner, Kevin Bethel, said about 15 to 20 students were at a bus stop in the city’s Ogontz neighborhood around 3:45 p.m. when two people walked up and opened fire. Police said people were getting on the stopped bus when the gunfire erupted. Police said one 17-year-old was pronounced dead at a hospital with multiple gunshot wounds to the body. Two 15-year-olds had graze wounds and a 49-year-old woman and a 71-year-old woman...

A transgender Philadelphia city official got in a scuffle with a Pennsylvania State policeman after her husband was detained and played the race card during a traffic stop on Saturday. As The Daily Mail reported, Celena Morrison, Philadelphia’s executive director of the Office of LGBT Affairs, was arrested on Saturday along with her husband, Darius McLean. Pennsylvania State Police said that the officer initiated a traffic stop on I-76 westbound at roughly 9 AM for Morrison’s gray Infinity sedan, which reportedly had several vehicle code violations. The Mail reported a green Dodge driven by McLean then pulled up behind the...

A man has been charged with fighting another man who fell onto the tracks at a University City SEPTA station moments before being struck and killed by a train. Chaz Wearing, 40, is charged with involuntary manslaughter, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office announced Friday. Wearing, who investigators believe is homeless, is currently on bench warrant status for an unrelated strangulation case in Delaware County, investigators said. Wearing's criminal history also includes cases in Clinton and Lycoming counties, according to the District Attorney's Office. New video sent to NBC10 by a law enforcement source shows Wearing arguing with a 38-year-old man....

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Protesters marching in Philadelphia against the bombardment of Gaza chanted about genocide Sunday outside an Israeli-style restaurant, leading Gov. Josh Shapiro to call the demonstration “antisemitic.” In Philadelphia’s Center City and University City neighborhoods, hundreds of people marched to criticize Israel’s military actions in Gaza, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. However, it was unclear why some specifically protested the restaurant. A video of demonstrators outside of Goldie Falafel depicted people chanting, “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,” which garnered backlash from the Democratic governor

PHILADELPHIA - Three Philadelphia police officers were ambushed by gunfire while responding to a shooting Wednesday night in Northeast Philadelphia, authorities said. Police were called to a property on the 7500 block of Whitaker Avenue around 7 p.m. after investigators say a 12-year-old boy reported to police that his father had shot his uncle. Investigators say a father and his juvenile son were arguing when the boy's uncle stepped in and began to argue with the father. Police believe the father fired a shot inside the house that caused the boy and his uncle to retreat upstairs.

Free-lance Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, journalist Josh Kruger was shot and killed at his home in the city on Monday morning around 1:30 a.m. after mocking those who raised concerns about surging crime. Kruger was shot seven times, according to ABC News. The Associated Press reported that Kruger made it out of his home after being shot and was seeking help when he “collapsed in the street.” He was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Nearly half of the individuals booked on charges stemming from their alleged participation in Philadelphia’s Tuesday night looting spree were allowed to walk free on zero bail within 24 hours of their arrest, police records show.Police arrested 52 individuals after at least 100 rioters descended on downtown Philadelphia, looting 28 stores including Apple and Lululemon, WIO News, a local news network, reported. Police allowed 14 of the 30 people charged to walk free because of the city’s zero-bail policy for certain crimes, according to records from the Pennsylvania Judicial System.“Our administration will continue to work with our public safety partners...

The Philadelphia social media influencer arrested while she livestreamed Tuesday night’s looting mayhem fought back tears as she was charged with six felonies.Dayjia Blackwell, better known as “Meatball,” shared her firsthand view of the chaos, in which looters targeted several businesses including Apple, Foot Locker and Lululemon, before being caught. In the videos posted to her Instagram Stories, Blackwell can be heard laughing and cheering on the other looters as she stood by and watched the chaos unfold. At one point during her stream, Blackwell turned to face her camera and challenged the cops to arrest her. “Tell the police...

A looter who livestreamed a mob-style thieving spree in Philadelphia and encouraged others to join in burst into tears during her mugshot. Dayjia Blackwell cried after she was charged with burglary, conspiracy, criminal trespass, riot, criminal mischief, criminal use of communication facility, receipt of stolen property and disorderly conduct. Blackwell's anguish has been plastered online, contrasting to the carefree joy she conveyed in videos posted to social media - as dozens ransacked stores in the city's downtown business district. The 21-year-old social media personality, who goes by the name 'Meatball,' told her 181,000 Instagram followers to join her as she...

- as one raider is apprehended after LIVESTREAMING herself stealing from smashed up stores Thieves in the city of Philadelphia have been ransacking stores in the city center including Apple, Lululemon and Footlocker Videos shared on social media show officers apprehending looters as they attempt to leave with merchandise Footage from the Apple store shows the aftermath of the looting, with iPhones and other electronic goods seemingly ripped from their display stands About twenty people have been arrested after widespread looting broke out in Philadelphia last night, with one woman who livestreamed the chaos. Police in the city said that...

Former Philadelphia police officer Mark Dial has been charged with murder for killing a 27-year-old driver last month after surveillance footage showed him shooting him through his car window. Mark Dial fatally shot motorist Eddie Irizarry through his car window in North Philadelphia on August 14 - just five seconds after he got out of his patrol car. Police have now also released bodycam footage of the incident, previously seen through surveillance video from a nearby home collected by the alleged victim's family. Dial, who was fired a week later, has now been charged with murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault,...

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that justifiable homicides are rising in Philadelphia as concealed carries surge in the city. The Inquirer lists three recent incidents in which individuals legally carrying concealed firearms shot and killed their assailants. The paper then noted, “These sorts of deadly clashes in which the intended victims survive and assailants die are rare in Philadelphia, but are becoming more common as a growing number of people have legally armed themselves amid rising numbers of carjackings, shootings and homicides.” The Inquirer observes that “justified homicides jumped 67 percent from 2020 to 2021.” And 2022 is on pace to...

Khisser Davis-Papther was just being a 13-year-old kid, hanging with friends at a Nicetown takeout restaurant last month, when the group yelled something silly at a man on a passing bus, police say. But two older teens on the bus thought the younger kids were directing the wisecracks at them, according to Homicide Capt. James Clark. They got off the bus, walked into the Chinese restaurant, and one of them allegedly put a gun to Davis-Papther's head and pulled the trigger. "About as senseless as it gets," Clark said Monday, announcing the arrests of Tymear Johnson, 19, of Grays Ferry,...

Philadelphia has one of the most backward and incompetent city governments in America. It suffers from a combination of failed civic institutions, a deeply embedded racial paranoia that undermines law enforcement, and a local culture that has come to shrug at the urban chaos this produces. In 2006, the one-or-two-a-day-and a-dozen-on-weekends murder spree that earned "Killadelphia" its rap as an urban abattoir resulted in 406 people dead. It's clearly not all about poverty. Miami, America's poorest major city, saw 79 homicides in all of 2006. In March 2006, more Americans died violently on the streests of Philadelphia than in Iraq...

Sharon Conroy spent yesterday morning doing the quietly heartbreaking chores that a parent must do when her child is killed - going to court, stopping by his apartment, collecting the new bills that he'll never get to pay. But by last night, she was ready to do a bittersweet victory dance. Police officials announced that four more Simon Gratz High School students had been arrested and charged with murdering Sean Patrick Conroy. The arrests came a week to the day that Conroy, 36, died of a fatal asthma attack after six teens inexplicably pummeled him on an underground Center City...