Philadelphia

NOT The Onion! Plexiglass Is Now Racist In Philadelphia (Video)

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– Plexiglass Is Racist In Philadelphia:

According to Philadelphia 8th District Councilwoman Cindy Bass, shopkeepers protecting themselves with bulletproof plexiglass represents an “indignity” to her constituents and should therefore be banned.

From Philly.com:

For Jeff Liu, the thick plexiglass window that separates him from patrons at his Germantown beer deli, Kenny’s Seafood & Steak, is a matter of safety. For City Councilwoman Cindy Bass, the barrier window is an insult.

The plexiglass partition serves to protect workers from crime, but it also cuts them off from customers — a literal and metaphorical divider between their worlds.

Several years ago, after Liu argued with a man selling drugs in the Wayne Avenue deli’s lobby, the man returned with a rifle and shot Liu’s car, shattering its windows, Liu said.

https://youtu.be/iKagWN7RCKM

Bass says the windows only foster a sense that the establishment – more specifically, its clientele – is dangerous. And that too many of those stores masquerade as eateries when their biggest sales draw is alcohol, feeding vices in the city’s struggling neighborhoods.

Read moreNOT The Onion! Plexiglass Is Now Racist In Philadelphia (Video)

The Stupendous Failure Of Big City Education: How The Philly Teachers Union Loots The Schools

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Fail

– The Stupendous Failure Of Big City Education: How The Philly Teachers Union Loots The Schools (ZeroHedge, Aug 30, 2014):

So let us get this straight. The average Philadelphia teacher is receiving compensation and benefits of $112,700 and 50% of their students dropout; while of the remaining students only 45% can do math, 35% can read, and 30% can write. But at least they have some nice murals dotting the decaying schools. Furthermore, every new year will bring higher ‘fairer’ pension payment requirements. This is a crisis that grows larger by the day and is willfully ignored by politicians beholden to these government unions. The sheer idiocy of the following plan to “save” the schools this year is lost on the brainless media twits mouthing the teacher’s union talking points.

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Philadelphia Closes 23 Schools, New $400 Million Prison Being Built

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– Philadelphia Closes 23 Schools, New $400 Million Prison Being Built (Opposing Views, June 7, 2013):

Philadelphia officials are closing almost two dozen schools and decimating the budgets of the remaining schools under a so-called “doomsday” education plan.

However, amid all these cuts for education, the state of Pennsylvania is building a new $400 million prison for Philadelphia.

Pennsylvania’s School Reform Commission voted on March 7 to close 23 schools, reported the New York Times.

The same commission voted on June 1 to approve a $2.4 billion budget that will radically undercut the schools that stay open.

According to Philly.com, the budget cuts mean that “schools will open in the fall without new books, paper, clubs, counselors, librarians, assistant principals, or secretaries. Athletics, art, and music would be gone. There could be 3,000 layoffs, including some teachers. Class sizes would be larger, and schools would have no aides to help manage them or support staff to monitor lunchrooms and playgrounds.”

Read morePhiladelphia Closes 23 Schools, New $400 Million Prison Being Built

Philadelphia: Radioactive Iodine-131 Found In City Water, Almost 2 Times Over Legal Limit

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– Spike in iodine-131 found in city water (Philly, Dec 8, 2012):

Levels of radioactive iodine-131 in a city drinking-water intake rose to their highest level yet earlier this year.

However, city and state officials noted the spike, measured Oct. 17 at the Belmont water plant, is a one-time event. It’s not a public health concern, they said, and the water remains safe to drink.

Read morePhiladelphia: Radioactive Iodine-131 Found In City Water, Almost 2 Times Over Legal Limit

These 12 Hellholes Are Examples Of What The Rest Of America Will Look Like Soon

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– These 12 Hellholes Are Examples Of What The Rest Of America Will Look Like Soon (The Economic Collapse, July 15, 2012):

Do you want to see where this country is headed?  If so, don’t focus on the few areas that are still very prosperous.  New York City has Wall Street, Washington D.C. has the federal government and Silicon Valley has Google and Facebook.  Those are the exceptions.  The reality is that most of the country has been experiencing a slow decline for a very long time and once thriving cities such as Gary, Indiana and Flint, Michigan have become absolute hellholes.  They are examples of what the rest of America will look like soon.  60 years ago, most Americans were decent, hard working people and there were always good jobs available for anyone that was willing to roll up his or her sleeves and put in an honest day of work.  But now all of that has changed.  Over the past decade, tens of thousands of manufacturing facilities have shut down and millions of jobs have left the country.  Cities such as Cleveland, Baltimore and Detroit were once shining examples of everything that was right about America, but now they stand out like festering sores.  The “blue collar cities” have been hit the hardest by the gutting of our economic infrastructure.  There are many communities in America today where it seems like all of the hope and all of the life have been sucked right out of them.  You can see it in the eyes of the people.  The good times are gone permanently and they know it.  Unfortunately, the remainder of the country will soon be experiencing the despair that those communities are feeling.

The following are 12 hellholes that are examples of what the rest of America will look like soon….

Read moreThese 12 Hellholes Are Examples Of What The Rest Of America Will Look Like Soon

Is Iodine-131 Killing Babies In Philly? Death Rate Up 48 Percent Since Iodine-131 Has Been Detected In Philadelphia’s Drinking Water

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All links on the effects of low-level radiation down below.

– Is Iodine-131 Killing Babies In Philly? (MyFoxPhilly, June 16, 2011):

A researcher says the death rate among babies is up 48 percent since Iodine-131 was found in Philadelphia’s drinking water

Joseph Mangano is is the executive director of the Radiation And Public Health Project in New York, which is made of up scientists and health professionals.

There has been a recent spike, in infant deaths in Philadelphia, and Mangano says radioactive levels, in our water could be to blame.

After the explosion at the Fukushima power plant in Japan, radiation circled the globe, all the way to Pennsylvania.

About a month, after the disaster, radiation levels spiked, in our water, at three Philadelphia facilities.

Mangano said radiation combined with higher levels of iodine the EPAQ found in Philadelphia’s water two months ago may be killing young babies here.

Read moreIs Iodine-131 Killing Babies In Philly? Death Rate Up 48 Percent Since Iodine-131 Has Been Detected In Philadelphia’s Drinking Water

Philadelphia: Bloggers Charged $300 For Writing On The Internet! – Pay Up Or Shut Up

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The land of the free!

Philly wages a $300 “business privilege tax” on bloggers, even if they make no profit

keyboard

Taking a step closer to an eerie Orwellian state where creativity is crushed in the name of “the greater good,” the city of Philadelphia is demanding that bloggers pay $300 for the privilege of writing on the Internet.

This $300 “business privilege license” is for all local bloggers – even the ones that make no money off their words.

The city doesn’t stop there. In addition to the $300 for the license to write on the World Wide Web, bloggers must pay city wage taxes, business privilege taxes and taxes on any net profits — on top of state and federal taxes — even if the blogger only made $11 over two years, reports the City Paper.

Blogger Marilyn Bess, whose Ms. Philly Organic Blog has made her a whopping $50 over the past few years, went to the city’s tax amnesty program to explain that she makes pennies on her hobby. They told her to hire an accountant, she told the City Paper.

In an economy where jobs are sparse and people try to make ends meet with part-time jobs, taxing the independent, scrappy freelancers and bloggers seems counterproductive.

But the emptying of bloggers’ wallets may not be the worst result of these taxes. With the city’s charge being more than what most bloggers make, their voices could be silenced, as the extra expense is enough to discourage many from even having a blog.

“To say that these kinds of draconian measures are detrimental to the public discourse would be an understatement,” writes the Washington Examiner’s Mark Hemingway.

Read morePhiladelphia: Bloggers Charged $300 For Writing On The Internet! – Pay Up Or Shut Up