As someone who takes a lot of pictures, can you tell me what makes this fire escape pop?

Is it that it's freshly painted?

I respect Helen Gym for standing up the city's blatant racism against Asian-Americans.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/15/pennsylvania.schools.bias/index.html

The city was looking the other way and letting Asian-American students get assaulted left and right. They weren't punishing the assailants either.

Here's another article about it:

https://whyy.org/articles/anti-asian-attacks-at-a-philadelphia-school-led-to-landmark-ruling-over-a-decade-ago-did-anything-change/#:~:text=At%20South%20Philadelphia%20High%2C%20known,and%20outside%20the%20school%20building.

FTA:

"At South Philadelphia High, known as Southern, they entered a school community where Asian immigrants were harassed, bullied, and assaulted — behavior that school staff tolerated and sometimes abetted. On Dec. 3, 2009, more than two dozen Asian students were brutally attacked inside and outside the school building. Several were treated at hospitals for their injuries. After the attacks, Asian students organized an eight-day student boycott, forcing Philadelphia to confront the anti-Asian bias that permeated the city and its public school system."

This was actual racism.

The city was letting a racial minority group get assaulted regularly by a much larger group, and effectively swept it under the rug.

I will always respect for Helen Gym for standing up against the actual racism of the city of Philadelphia. Every other politician in the city was content to just sit back and let those Asian kids get the shit beat out of them and let the racists get away with it.

Of course the racists did get away with it in the end. None of them were ever rly punished. At least the people in charge of the city were forced to at least acknowledge the city's racism and that wouldn't have happened without Helen Gym.

IDK why, but that's one good looking fire escape.

He should run for Mayor.

At least I know he actually cares about his fellow citizen, which is more than I can say about a lot of our politicians.

FTA:

"Brown criticized what he said is the District Attorney’s Office’s policy on retail theft cases, saying Krasner “stopped prosecuting shoplifters” when the value of goods stolen is below $500."

Which Krasner's office never actually ever prosecutes people for. Retail was already on the ropes because of supply chain problems from Covid and the increasing prevalence of online retailers like Amazon. Policies like Krasner will effectively kill off what remains of retail because they're getting robbed blind now too. The shopping experience also sucks now too, everything from is locked up in those plastic cases and you have to wait for an associate to get everything off the shelf for you. All these policies that cater to criminals have reduced the average law-abiding citizens quality of life in many ways.

There shouldn't be any dollar amount attached to a toleration of shoplifting. It's not about the dollar value, it's about the principle. Shoplifting is a crime, and we shouldn't live in a society that encourages or tolerates it to any level.

"During Krasner’s tenure, the conviction rate in gun possession cases dropped from 63% in 2017 to 49% two years later. Krasner’s office has defended its record on illegal gun cases and said many factors contributed to the decline in convictions. He has also said law enforcement should prioritize shootings and homicides."

"Brown said Krasner believes prosecuting illegal gun cases is “a hostility towards impoverished people.” He added: “I think that’s bulls—.”

Here here!

How can you claim to be against all things gun-related because you care so much about gun violence and people dying, but then illegal gun prosecution actually goes down under your tenure?

On the driving equality bill, Brown had this to say:

"In addition to criticizing the DA, Brown said Tuesday that the city’s driving equality law — which aims to reduce racial disparities in police stops — is “a really bad bill.” The legislation, which took effect nearly a year ago, prohibits officers from stopping motorists solely for committing low-level offenses like driving with a broken taillight or an expired inspection sticker."

"Brown said it hinders violent-crime prevention, saying, “If you were going to do a drive-by shooting, what you would take is an unregistered car with tinted windows.” Having a registration that expired within 60 days is among the infractions included in the law, but the legislation does not include language on window tint."

I agree with him on this too. People have increasingly been driving like maniacs ever since this bill passed. Also it's another bill from the city that simply encourages lawlessness.

FTA:

“I caught hell in the depot the next day,” DeShields, 38, said, on a day off from his regular 4:30 p.m.-to-2:05 a.m. shift. “My coworkers were laughing and teasing me, saying, ‘We heard you were Batman."

"He noted, “I’ll get my revenge.”

Lol, dude's hilarious, and also a hero. We need more guys like this. Saves the day, then gets back on the bus and does his job.

"With the danger over, he said, he stepped down from the bus for a minute to ask people in a bar to watch the woman until she was able to get help. And then he got back in and continued the route “to get my passengers home.”

Also DeShields is an appropriate name for someone who steps up to shield a woman from criminals when she's in danger.

FTA:

"The cops weren’t the only ones making money from the Guns Down Gloves Up program."

"Epiphany received $45,000, which included a 10% administrative fee for “overhead, copying, etc."

"Also, $6,000 went to cleaning services at the church. One invoice listed “bio cleaning” the pastor’s closet."

"Villanova received $45,000 for research and evaluation — plus its own 10% administrative fee."

"Boxing participants received more than $13,000 in prepaid debit cards and $350 if they completed four weeks of the program."

"In all, Guns Down Gloves Up blew through $200,000 in less than a year. In November, the city suspended the program as investigations were launched by the police and the city’s inspector general."

Jesus fucking Christ!

I've said from the beginning that these anti-violence programs are a giant scam, I just can't believe the scale of graft.

$13,000 in prepaid debit cards to go to a boxing class?

I went to a boxing gym for a year in my early 20's, and it was like $90 a month, that was like 10 years ago.

I just can't fucking believe how bad this is.

Nobody was giving me $13,000 when I was a teenager. Also, nobody was giving me free boxing classes. I worked in my teens because my family was poor.

These kids made out like bandits.

$13,000 and free boxing classes for a month, not a bad deal for everyone involved in this scam.

I never had $13,000 together at one time until my mid to late 20's, and nobody just gave it to me either. I had been working for like a decade at that point.

That's how I amassed $13,000.

No one just handed me taxpayer money.

End these programs, because they're all fraudulent.

A lot of the city is built over various brooks, streams, and creeks.

It's also where Overbrook gets its name from, cuz the train station is literally over a brook.

The city put a lot of streams and creeks into pipes when they were building the sewage system.

>but me telling you to read a book hurts your feelings.

Telling someone to "read a fucking book" is absolutely an insult.

You don't have anything to say about the findings of the study?

You're just going to attack the source?

Why don't you address the findings of the study?

Would that not be convenient to your narrative?

>or you're just doing some kind of PR for the FOP.

Nice, another insult.

It sounds like you don't have any actual points to make, you're just lobbing insults at people.

https://www.city-journal.org/why-incarceration-matters

FTA:

"The United States Sentencing Commission, using its access to massive amounts of data about thousands of federal criminal defendants over many decades, decided to test the effects of incarceration on recidivism. The commission chose to study 32,135 federal criminal defendants released in 2010. The study divided the defendants into five groups based on length of sentence: 24–36 months, 36–48 months, 48–60 months, 60–120 months, and more than 120 months. The commission then checked to see which of the released defendants committed new crimes during an eight-year follow-up period."

"The results were compelling. For defendants receiving a sentence of more than 60 months (five years), the odds of recidivism were 18 percent lower than a matched group of prisoners receiving shorter sentences. For defendants with sentences of more than 120 months (ten years), the odds of recidivism were 29 percent lower. These conclusions were statistically significant at p<0.001—a statistical measure that shows profound reliability. No statistically significant difference in recidivism was found for defendants serving less than 60 months."

"Contrary to current academic thinking, then, the length of a criminal’s sentence matters quite a bit in reducing future offending. Why are these findings so important? First, because they offer a stern rebuttal to the academic literature downplaying the effect of lengthy sentences; the commission even devotes an entire section of its report to assessing these studies. But perhaps more importantly, the commission’s findings are a blow to progressive prosecutors, who have been relying on flawed academic literature to push for lower sentences for just about every crime, even violent ones, claiming that reduced sentences will not cause more crime. One of the main proponents of this philosophy is Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner, who specifically criticized sentences longer than five years, promised that crime would drop if he avoided lengthy sentences, and scoffed at law enforcement officials who warned him of the consequences if he enacted his policies. Krasner delivered on his promises, dropping murder charges even in the case of video evidence and handing out lenient sentences. The predictable result: violent criminals have overrun Philadelphia, with murder soaring to an all-time record and police officers shot during a Fourth of July celebration."

>read a fucking book.

No need to be rude. We're having a discussion about policy, it's better to leave emotion out of it.

>lol stiff sentences don't do shit for people stealing cars for fun.

Uh, ... actually they do.

They provide harsh punishment for committing a given crime, thereby disincentivizing that activity.

When you remove the penalty for committing a crime, more people are going to commit that crime.

It's not exactly rocket science.

>if more policing was the key to stopping crime, our $750 million per year would make us one of the safest cities per capita in the country.

Stiff sentences.

The police don't charge and sentence criminals, that's Krasner, our DA who loves treating criminals with kid gloves. Judges are the ones who issue sentences.

> if they don't get any money for it, it will stop.

This is completely wrong.

People are stealing cars for joyrides so they get social media clout.

There's literally a TikTok social media challenge about stealing Kia's and Hyundai's for shits and giggles:

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/08/tiktok-challenge-spurs-rise-in-thefts-of-kia-hyundai-cars.html

People commit crimes for clout all the time.

It's normal.

The only thing you can do to discourage anti-social, violent behavior like this is enact stiff sentences for offenders.

We've been doing the exact opposite of that in Philly since about ... 2018, when Krasner took over as DA.

FTA:

"Montgomery County DA Kevin R. Steele, Bucks County DA Matthew Weintraub, ATF officials and the Springfield Township Police Chief announced the arrests of two adults and 11 juveniles related to three burglaries and an attempted burglary of gun stores."

The 2 adults will do hard time, the 11 juveniles will gets slaps on the wrist.

Most of the people involved in this criminal conspiracy will get a slap on the wrist, because they'll be tried as juveniles.

A lot of the carjackers are juveniles for this very reason.

Gangs recruit teens to do these crimes for this very reason, it just sucks to see their plan work.

Like, how many gun stores does a 16-year old have to burglarize before he's charged as an adult?

>For someone who almost exclusively posts about crime your sure do love to shit on attempts to reduce it.

That's what you said.

3 out of 10 of my last posts, which is what I've submitted over the past 2 months here, have been about crime.

Is 3 out of 10 "almost exclusively"?

You made the claim buddy.

Provide the evidence to back up your claim.

Should we just take your word for it?

Cuz I provided proof that would indicate otherwise.

>Some are short term interventions and others are longer term solutions. Philly's anti-violence program is brand new and has barely had any time to show results, but you were calling it a failure from the start.

So how many billions will the city have to spend before these anti-violence programs can point to any tangible result?

$1 billion?

$10 billion?

I can't help but think there's better ways to use those funds in a poor city than doing the work that parents are supposed to do.

Parents are supposed to teach their kids not to engage in violence.

This goes way beyond the mandate of city government.

The fact that the city is wasting $200 million on this would be funny if it weren't so sad.

>Anti violence intervention works, the fact that you keep saying it doesn't doesn't change that.

Then why were there 516 murders in the city last year?

The second bloodiest year in the city's history, but the anti-violence programs are working?

Make it make sense.

Move those goalposts more buddy.

You made the claim.

I provided evidence to the contrary.

I guess we'll just have to take your word on it since you won't cite any sources the way I just did.

You made a claim insulting my character and then basically said: "Trust me bro" as your evidence.

This isn't the responsibility of the taxpayer and it goes way beyond the mandate of city government.

Is the city sitting on so much money that they can casually throw around hundreds of millions of dollars like this every year? Especially on programs that can't even be proven to be effective.

How about instead of spending $200 million on these lofty ideals, they focus on things that traditionally fall within the realm of city government?

Like, gee I don't know, fix the roads?

Fix the water lines that regularly flood parts of the city.

Ya know, the actual work of government.

Philly can't even get the buses to run on time, but they think city government can facilitate something like this?

A model that hasn't been proven to do what it purports to do anywhere else?

That magic is going to happen here in Philly first?

I seriously doubt it.

This from the people that can't manage garbage collection effectively.

All these anti-violence programs are corrupt and inept to a certain extent.

These programs go way beyond the mandate of city government.

The city shouldn't have to spend $200 million a year so people don't murder each other.

These programs are attempting to do the work of parents.

A government worker can't ever replace a parent.

No amount of taxpayer dollars can replace the work that a parent does in socializing and raising their child in a way that they respect human life.

We'd be better off spending this $200 million on things that actually improve people's lives.

Instead of burning on $200 million a year on trying to clean up bad parenting, after the fact and the damage is already done.

Bad parenting is the root cause of a lot of our problems in society. Instead of actually addressing the root cause, the city is trying to preemptively put out fires with these BS anti-violence programs that do nothing other than burn taxpayer money with little to nothing to show in terms of results.

Audit all these fake ass non-profits and then shut them down.

They don't do anything.

Parent's should teach kids these values.

The state shouldn't have to do the work that parents should do, this whole thing is ridiculous.

We have the coolest animal-based team name in all of sports.

Their taco pizza is amazing.

Try before you deny!

Dang, I've been offering my services as a male escort before 9:30 PM.

No wonder I haven't been getting many replies ...