Wyatt links to the address donations can be sent to the family:
Stephen Liczbinski Family Memorial Trust Fund
Philadelphia Police and Fire Federal Credit Union
901 Arch Street
Philadelphia, Pa. 19107
Category: Philadelphia
Officer Down
Another police officer killed in Philadelphia. Apparently they already have the low lifes in custody. I missed this one yesterday because I was busy doing things with Bitter. Our thoughts and prayers go out of officer Liczbinki’s family.
Cop killers are a dangerous breed of criminal. They will kill anyone as soon as look at them. They have no regard for life. What’s also important, most of them are actually competent shooters, which seperates them from your typical criminal. It’s a very good thing the Philadelphia police were able to catch these guys as quickly as they did.
Sounds About Right
People are often under the mistaken impression that the Philadelphia Zoo is located at 34th and Girard. Those of us who have been to sporting events in the city know that it’s really on South Broad Street, as this visitor from Montreal found out:
My son and I drove from Montreal to catch Monday night’s Flyers-Canadiens playoff game at the Wachovia Center. Your fans have many reasons to be proud of their city and team, but how they treat their guests at a sporting event is not one of them.
As the game progressed, the level of threats and abuse heaped on us grew at an alarming rate. At one point, an unfortunate Habs fan had a glass of beer poured on her head, and her boyfriend thought it best for them to leave the arena. By the end of the game, we and other Habs supporters needed the protection of arena security and police to exit the building.
I can’t imagine what would have happened to us if the Flyers had lost.
Welcome to the jungle. When I attended the Flyers-Capitals game a few weeks ago at the Verizon Center in D.C. (in the VIP booth, w/ free beer and food, sweet!), I was telling Bitter the reputation our fans had. Despite a few beers, I resisted the urge to jump up and start cracking heads when people cheered on the Capitals. I am a poor Philadelphian.
Gun Fatigue
They just don’t get it. Or they wont get it:
But “gun fatigue” has set in, and it’s unlikely any new gun bills will be brought up in Harrisburg this legislative session.
However, this represents a moment that Nutter could use to his advantage: exploit the political goodwill he has been forging in Harrisburg to help change the conversation about guns and find solutions. Face it: If anything substantial is going to change about the city’s ability to make gun laws, it will require a civil sit-down between Nutter and state leaders – something House Speaker Dennis O’Brien, who once kept gun legislation safely tucked away in the Judiciary Committee he once chaired – told this editorial board he’s willing to do.
Nutter was smart enough to build bridges with Harrisburg before he took office. We believe he’s smart enough to spark a more productive conversation with state lawmakers, and get them to see it’s in their interest to help the city grapple with our gun problem.
We are not passing gun control laws because the City of Philadelphia can’t control it’s crime problem. That’s off the table. Put it out of your minds now. It is not that we don’t care about the city’s problems, it’s that we keep telling you that you can’t fix your problem this way, especially when the city is doing little to enforce the laws they already have. Nutter and City Council are throwing this temper tantrum because they lack the political courage to tell their constituents something they don’t want to hear; that until they get off their asses and start taking responsibility for their communities and neighborhoods, and start working with the police to get rid of the criminals, drug dealers, and gangs, nothing is going to change. And most importantly, Philadelphians need to elect judges who are willing to put these individuals away for a very long time when they are convicted.
We have a lot of guns in this state outside Philadelphia, and we do not have a violence problem. The reason we don’t is that we would not tolerate it in our communities, and we’d hold the politicians and judges feet to the fire until they started dealing with it. Really dealing with it, not pretending to deal with it.
Residents of Philadelphia are being sold a bill of goods by their politicians and by the media, that their problems have an easy solution, and it has to start with gun control. As long as Philadelphia residents are willing to buy that line, and keep electing politicians who peddle that instead of doing something, nothing is going to change in that city.
Hearing Postponed
The hearing on the Philadelphia gun control ordinances, originally scheduled for April 28th (today), has been rescheduled for May 19th, when we’ll all be in Louisville. Apparently the city is trying to make a standing argument.
At an April 17 hearing at which Greenspan granted an order temporarily blocking enforcement of the gun-control laws, the judge said she had misgivings about the organizations’ standing to sue. Generally, organizations cannot file a constitutional challenge without showing how their members are directly harmed by the law in question.
I’m an NRA member. I have firearms that are illegal under this law that I often transport through the City of Philadelphia. I am affected. I know other people who live in the city who will be affected, and are NRA members. NRA has standing. Why isn’t that obvious? Or is it, and they just want NRA off the suit, and are looking for an excuse?
Petition to Impeach Mayor Nutter
Someone started a petition to Impeach the Mayor of Philadelphia for passing the gun control ordinances. I fully agree with the sentiment here, but since City Council is the body to carry out the proceedings, and they are complicit in passing the bill, I doubt this is going to go anywhere. Also, I would advise anyone starting a petition to make sure they are using the proper spelling of the words “advice” and “break.”  I normally hate to be the spell check guy, but it kind of stood out.
Disregarding the Law
Dan Pehrson, president of the PA Firearms Owners’ Association, has an editorial running in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer:
Until our elected officials learn to abide by the law, we gun owners will have to set an example. In what is only the first of many steps, gun-owner groups have filed for a temporary restraining order to prevent enforcement of the Philadelphia gun-control ordinances. Those of us who live in the city will continue to lawfully keep and bear our arms, waiting on the city to follow our lead in respecting the laws and constitution of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Read the whole thing. A certain pair of gun bloggers, who will hunt you down and beat you if you don’t, helped in the drafting and submission of this editorial.
Say No to Cronyism
It would seem the city politicians want to change the home rule charter to allow more management level positions that are exempt from civil service requirements. I agree with Wyatt on this one, it’s a bad idea. It means the city politicians get to give more cushy jobs to their cronies. If you think corruption is bad now…
Quote of the Day
Christine M. Flowers at the Daily News:
Philadelphia has been ignored in Harrisburg. It does have special problems. But acting like defiant and belligerent children when we don’t get our way isn’t going to solve those problems. It’s just going to confirm what the people in northeastern and western and central Pennsylvania already think of us.
That we’re a lawless city.
Yes, it will. Not to mention that it’s not a great idea, in a city infested with lawlessness, to have the Mayor, Police Chief, and City Council themselves flout the law so flagrantly.
Shields Calls for Nutter’s Arrest
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:
Philadelphia’s latest effort to curb violence through gun control was temporarily blocked by a city judge yesterday in a ruling that both sides welcomed, and that left a National Rifle Association lawyer calling for Mayor Nutter’s arrest for “official oppression.”
Common Pleas Court Judge Jane Cutler Greenspan granted the NRA a temporary restraining order that blocks enforcement of a package of five gun-control laws passed last week by City Council and signed by Nutter.
Greenspan stressed that she was “just trying to preserve the status quo” until an April 28 hearing on whether to issue a preliminary injunction freezing the laws longer.
The only problem is, you actually have to opresss someone before you can be charged with official oppression, and the restraining order granted against enforcement will eliminate this possible route of action. As much as I’d like to see the Mayor and City Council arrested for flouting state law, this is just posturing until they actually enforce the ordinances.