Kenney Cracks Down On Eagles Tailgaters; Ignores Parkway Anarchists Illegally Blocking 22nd Street

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Residents of Philadelphia, in case you haven't noticed, your mayor, Jim Kenney, has one set of increasingly onerous rules for law-abiding citizens, especially if they're in South Philadelphia. 

And Kenney has another set of rules for the so-called "peaceful protesters" who are illegally occupying the formerly scenic Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

In anticipation of the Eagles' home opener, Killjoy Kenney has announced that the city is banning tailgating parties at and around the Linc. To accomplish that goal, Kenney will close a half-dozen streets around the stadium, where fans are barred from attending the game against the Rams, from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

But up on the formerly scenic Parkway, for the past four months, Kenney has allowed an army of left-wing anarchists to illegally occupy public property, including the Von Colln Field, the grounds of the Rodin Museum, and the Azalea Garden adjacent to the Art Museum with an illegal and unsanitary Tent City. 

And now, in the latest outrage, Kenney has allowed the increasingly emboldened Tent City anarchists to illegally block 22nd Street by erecting two homemade barricades of wooden pallets to clog the four-lane thoroughfare, a bus route, to all traffic. To add insult to injury, one of the blockades prominently features a sign that accurately labels Kenney as a coward.

The anarchists, aided by their faithful enablers, are digging in on the Parkway, in anticipation of a raid by cops. For the past four months, the city has allowed all kinds of foggy-headed do-gooders to bring in food, water and supplies to the camps, where the grateful and freeloading anarchists who are illegally squatting on public property will take anything they can get. 

This lawlessness has reached new heights -- a couple of U-Hauls are now parked in the barricaded section of 22nd Street, in open defiance of the law. Who knows what's in them. 

The Philadelphia Police Department's Directive 8.3 on "Demonstrations and Labor Disputes" specifically states that it's the duty of all police personnel to "control unauthorized ingress and egress by participants" and "prevent attempts to assist or reinforce the incident participants from outside the area."

But since June 11th, when the anarchists invaded the Parkway, Kenney has ordered the cops to stand down and do nothing about the myriad illegal activities going on at the camps such as drug use, overdoses, public nudity, stabbings, and alleged sex crimes.

Three different times, the weak-kneed Kenney has set three different allegedly final deadlines for the protesters to clear the encampments. After a pro-bono lawyer for the anarchists filed a lawsuit against the city, a federal judge upheld the city's right to clear the camps because of concerns over public safety, and public health during an ongoing pandemic. And three times, Kenney has backed down and done nothing. The mayor quite simply lacks the will to enforce the law.

As a result, the anarchists are fortifying themselves for further resistance. 6ABC Action News broadcast a neighbor's video that showed the anarchists practicing human barricades. There have also been persistent reports from cops that the anarchists are rigging the camps with booby traps, such as bear traps and handmade weapons featuring contaminated syringes attached to poles. 

There are some signs, however, that after four months of open defiance of the law, the city may have finally had enough.

Last week, a cop on a megaphone told the anarchists, "Ladies and gentlemen, you must leave the premises. You were previously notified that you cannot stay here, and you need to remove yourself and all of your possessions."

Another sign that Kenney might finally be ready to get tough -- Kenney was invited to brunch by the anarchists who have made a complete fool out of him, and Kenney pointedly said no, although afterwards, there were reports that he felt guilty about it. 

Who can blame the anarchists for not feeling cocky because they know that under the progressive regime of Mayor Kenney and District Attorney Krasner, they have nothing to fear, even if the cops do arrest them.

Mayor Kenney has previously announced that he was dropping charges against 750 people arrested during the George Floyd protests. And Krasner has been turning scores of protesters and looters loose, in addition to his usual duties of handing out lenient sentences to murderers, and armed drug dealers  caught carrying illegal guns on the streets. 

Fortunately for Philadelphia, U.S. Attorney William McSwain went on Twitter yesterday to issue a stern warning to the Parkway anarchists, namely that if they break the law when the cops finally do show up, they won't be dealing with progressive softies Kenney and Krasner. 

They'll be dealing with the feds.

"I'm watching this situation closely," McSwain tweeted. "If anybody at the encampments defies the police and commits any federal crimes in the process, here is your warning: you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Last night in Philadelphia, the city had 11 shootings, including two murders.

That puts the city's current total for homicides at 324; a record pace that if continued unchecked, will result in more than 400 homicides for the year. 

Meanwhile, our mayor is cracking down on tailgating.

"I recognize as a long-term rabid Eagles fan myself, there's nowhere I'd rather be than in the parking lot tailgating for the 1 o'clock game," said the ever-pandering Kenney. "We just need to keep each other safe, and there will be other football seasons."

Why is anyone still listening to this fool? Memo to Mayor Kenney: We don't need your nanny state anymore. Didn't you hear the news?

In Pittsburgh earlier this week, U.S. District Court Judge William Stickman struck down Gov. Tom Wolf's seven-month-old pandemic lockdown as blatantly unconstitutional. The judge ruled that Wolf's policy limiting indoor gatherings to 25 people, and outdoor gatherings to 250, violated the constitutional "right of assembly."

The judge reminded Wolf, and his health secretary, Rachel Levine, who were the losers in the case, that the "right of assembly is a fundamental right enshrined in the First Amendment." As in, "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Mayor Kenney, your prohibition against tailgating is plainly unconstitutional. Who are you to keep telling us what to do? You weren't elected dictator. Why don't you instead focus your energies on finally enforcing the law on the Parkway, where you've been criminally negligent for the past four months, and clean up the mess that you are 100% responsible for.

In his opinion, Judge Stickman said that although he believed Wolf and Levine had "good intentions," "good intentions are not alone enough to uphold governmental action against a constitutional challenge."

Wouldn't the federal judge's ruling also apply to the "good intentions" of our overreaching mayor, and his stated desire "to keep each other safe?"

In his opinion, the judge had much to say about the good intentions of our leaders, who, by the acquiescence of the citizens, have been allowed for too long to act like dictators.

"Indeed, the greatest threats to our system of constitutional liberties may arise when the ends are laudable, and the intent is good --- especially in a time of emergency," the judge wrote.

"In an emergency, even a vigilant public may let down its guard over its constitutional liberties, only to find that liberties, once relinquished, are hard to recoup and that restrictions -- while expedient in the face of an emergency situation -- may persist long after immediate danger has passed."

Boy is that true in this town. Citizens of Philadelphia, it's time to take back your liberties as guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The judge concluded his opinion by writing that "even in an emergency, the authority of government is not unfettered." Got that Mayor Kenney? And that "the liberties protected by the Constitution are not fair-weather freedoms -- in place when times are good, but able to be cast aside in times of trouble."

Citizens of Philadelphia, cast off the chains imposed by would-be dictators, Kenney, Wolf and Levine. The precedent in Philadelphia has already been set. People can show up in open defiance of Kenney's emergency pandemic order by the hundreds of thousands -- if they're protesting something -- and nothing will be done about it. 

If thousands of Eagles fans showed up at the Linc to tailgate, in protest of our mayor and his unconstitutional lockdown that should have been over months ago, what can this wimp actually do about it?