A journalist and advocate who rose from homelessness and addiction to serve as a spokesperson for Philadelphia’s most vulnerable was shot and killed at his home early Monday, police said.

Josh Kruger, 39, was shot seven times at about 1:30 a.m. and collapsed in the street after seeking help, police said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital a short time later. Police believe the door to his Point Breeze home was unlocked or the shooter knew how to get in, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. No arrests have been made and no weapons have been recovered, they said.

Authorities haven’t spoken publicly about the circumstances surrounding the killing.

      • stevedidWHAT@lemmy.world
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        Hello again old friend

        Not to my knowledge but it was still an idea worth posing given the polices history against the homeless population nation wide and would be an easy answer as to why there’s not been any breaks in the case.

        Although I didn’t pose what I said as fact, I can’t help what people will assume of groups they’re already familiar with.

        • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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          Dude. The words you’re typing are grossly irrelevant to the story you’re commenting on. ___

            • Jelly_mcPB@lemmy.world
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              It looks like you used a catchphrase to grab worthless internet popularity points. We have no evidence, and it very well could have been the cops, or a junkie, or Santa. You’re on a public forum, it’s not stone throwing to point out nonsense.

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                They made a quip that referenced a popular anti-establishment song which criticizes police for acts of hate towards minorities.

                This person, who was defending minorities, was shot and killed in their home, in the city whose police dept. dropped an actual bomb on minorities less than 40 years ago.

                Police have also been known to enter people’s houses and perform execution-style killings like this in the US.

                How is it irrelevant?

                • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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                  That’s called a conspiracy theory.

                  You have taken a handful of unrelated things and applied them to an entirely unrelated story. With this formula, you could conclude anything you wished to conclude and get people to believe you because people don’t give a shit about facts any more.

                  I would advise people, all people in general, to read some words about the thing they think they know something about, before they go about committing on such things and spreading misleading and false statements.

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              I would like you to explain how you typed those words in relation to this story.
              This case involves what the police had indicated was likely a domestic dispute, in the victim’s home, possibly involving drugs.
              You’re talking about uh, the police murdering the homeless? Seriously. How could you possibly make that connection?
              I don’t know what you mean by “breaks in this case” when this was posted only 24 hours after the incident. Within 36 hours, the police had identified a suspect.

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                  Gotcha. That makes sense that you let your fingers do the thinking for you. Anyone with half a brain would have a hard time putting down your words.

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      We don’t know the cops did this.

      No shortage of right-wing reactionaries, who aren’t cops, shooting people.

      that said, the Philly PD don’t have the best reputation, e.g. blatantly trying to frame Mumia, etc.

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      Police have said the motive behind the killing remains unclear, but that the pair were in a relationship.

      Davis’ mother and older brother said that relationship began years ago, when Davis was just 15, and involved sex, drugs, and abuse. They told The Inquirer in recent interviews that Davis said Kruger was threatening to post sexually explicit videos of him online before, police say, Davis shot him.

      Not a cop it seems.

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    These comments are out of control. To be fair though, this AP article is garbage.

    The likelihood of this having anything to do with the victim being a queer journalist in Philadelphia is practically zero. Here’s some excerpts from the local paper.

    Detectives believe Kruger’s death may have been the result of a domestic dispute or may have been drug-related, according to three law enforcement sources with knowledge of the case. The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said police investigators recovered troubling text messages between Kruger and a former partner. Investigators also recovered methamphetamine inside Kruger’s bedroom, the sources said.

    In recent months, he’d written on social media about a variety of alarming incidents at his home.

    In April, he posted that an ex-partner had broken into his home. “The door was locked, so he had somehow obtained a copy of my keys,” he wrote. He had allowed the man, whom he’d known for years “before his troubles,” to stay at his house briefly after being released from jail. He said he was able to deescalate the situation and the man eventually left, and he changed his locks.

    In August, someone threw a rock through his home window, he said. Then, about two weeks ago, he wrote on Facebook that someone came to his house searching for their boyfriend — “a man I’ve never met once in my entire life.” The person called themselves “Lady Diabla, the She-Devil of the Streets” and threatened him, he wrote.

    https://www.inquirer.com/crime/josh-kruger-killed-point-breeze-shooting-philadelphia-journalist-20231002.html

    • StereoTrespasser@lemmy.world
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      The conspiracy theories are strong in this thread. Nobody wants to believe that random acts of violence can happen. There always has to be some deeper conspiracy to try and make sense of it, and to feel like there is some semblance of control in our lives.

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        Bear in mind a lot of the commenters come from a civilised society, where a journalist getting shot is massive fucking news and implies something about his profession getting him killed

        People just don’t get shot in modern countries

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        Well, nothing that was written above makes it seem like this was random. This seems to have been very deliberate, but for reasons unrelated to their outreach work.

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          Right. In a Philly at least, the vast majority of gun violence is targeted and personal. That’s why so much of it is mostly ignored.

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            “A specific individual waged a campaign of targeted harassment against a person they knew, for 6-12 months, before committing premeditated murder.”

            Another act of random violence. Who could have seen it coming.

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        I think it’s part of their idea that everything wrong in the world comes from America, so if they topple the American capitalist system everything will be fixed.

        Random acts of violence don’t fit this narrative, the fact that there will always be psychopaths by sheer fact of the genetic lottery doesn’t fit this narrative, and the downfall of left leaning public figures through no fault of their own or that of some secret cabal of the US government doesn’t fit this narrative.

        The fact that bad shit will still need to be fixed and/or corrected for in a “post revolution” world just breaks their brains.

        It’s Turner Diaries logic, “no see, once we get rid of them the world will be perfect!”

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          You’re not making a very good point for what you think you’re arguing for. If anything, you’re just confirming 'murica is a shithole.

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        even the the most generous and trusting reading of this would suggest that the US just selling unhinged people guns is possibly something that could be chalked up the cause of this murder. Permissive gun policies in this country and multiple court rulings that police don’t have to take protective measures seriously have degraded people’s ability to have control over their lives.

        Even if there was no intent here, this “random act of violence” is the result of generations of failed policies.

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      Investigators also recovered methamphetamine inside Kruger’s bedroom, the sources said.

      “Party and Play” (PnP) with meth is a thing and it’s as toxic and fucked up as you’d imagine.

      If that was what was going on … I can’t say I’m remotely surprised what happened did.

      • stembolts@programming.dev
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        Why speculate? When I see threads like this, that is my one and only thought. It adds no value, muddies the water, and doesn’t rely on evidence.

        Why speculate? I’m too autistic for this thread. I don’t speculate. I wait for evidence.

  • Rearsays@lemmy.ml
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    But who’s committing these crimes, and why so much senseless violence?

    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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      Probably a “good Christian”, since the fundamentalist are militantly (in a literal sense) against any sort of tolerance, acknowledgement, or compassion being expressed towards people who don’t completely conform to their heteronormative worldview.

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        I stole this from another poster, but it does indicate that it was probably his ex boyfriend, or drug related, and not a “good Christian” as you imply.

        Here’s some excerpts from the local paper.

        Detectives believe Kruger’s death may have been the result of a domestic dispute or may have been drug-related, according to three law enforcement sources with knowledge of the case. The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said police investigators recovered troubling text messages between Kruger and a former partner. Investigators also recovered methamphetamine inside Kruger’s bedroom, the sources said.

        In recent months, he’d written on social media about a variety of alarming incidents at his home.

        In April, he posted that an ex-partner had broken into his home. “The door was locked, so he had somehow obtained a copy of my keys,” he wrote. He had allowed the man, whom he’d known for years “before his troubles,” to stay at his house briefly after being released from jail. He said he was able to deescalate the situation and the man eventually left, and he changed his locks.

        In August, someone threw a rock through his home window, he said. Then, about two weeks ago, he wrote on Facebook that someone came to his house searching for their boyfriend — “a man I’ve never met once in my entire life.” The person called themselves “Lady Diabla, the She-Devil of the Streets” and threatened him, he wrote.

        https://www.inquirer.com/crime/josh-kruger-killed-point-breeze-shooting-philadelphia-journalist-20231002.html

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            Tangentially, my go-to aphorism when some American Christian starts whinging about how “persecuted” they are:

            get off the cross, we need the wood.

            And to be clear: any Christian in the US claiming “persecution” should be viewed with the same seriousness as white, upper-middle class people claiming everyone racist against white property… because both of those claims are categorically bullshit. Nobody in the US wants to or cares about persecuting white people or Christians. We just want all the Nationalist Christians to get the fuck out of our politics and stop trying to push theocratically-derived laws on the rest of us, because just like we don’t want to live under a Sharia legal system, we similarly don’t want to live under a biblical (or Torah-derived, or any-other-religious-text-derived) law system.

        • almar_quigley@lemmy.world
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          Yes! That’s exactly what you should say to Christians when they start spouting off on their racist, homophobic, or otherwise prejudiced beliefs. You’re a great role model.

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            I have done and will continue to call out racial and homophobic bigotry as quickly as I do religious bigotry.

            Unfortunately, as shameful as it is, one of those forms of prejudice is supported by most of the active population here.

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              There is a difference between attacking someone who chooses a disgusting belief system and bigotry. Any adult who remains a Christian knows exactly what the religion with the highest kill count stands for. They decide to ignore that because they get the warm fuzzies once a week for an hour.

              Now go restore Roe v. Wade or you are useless to me.

              • Nahvi@lemmy.world
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                There is a difference between attacking someone who chooses a disgusting belief system and bigotry.

                Bigotry is thinking, what I believe is right and everyone who believes differently is wrong.

                To point at all varieties of Christianity and say, “you are bad,” is being bigoted.

                Now go restore Roe v. Wade or you are useless to me.

                If you want someone useful here are some people that agree with you and will help you fight, assuming you can manage to not call their belief system disgusting to their faces:

                Rev. Angela Williams, a Presbyterian pastor and the lead organizer of SACReD: Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity, told Healthline that faith leaders and religious groups that support abortion rights have been preparing for this moment for a long time.

                https://www.healthline.com/health-news/meet-the-religious-groups-fighting-to-save-abortion-access

                Members of the Episcopal Church (79%) and the United Church of Christ (72%) are especially likely to support legal abortion, while most members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the mainline Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (65%) also take this position.

                https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/01/22/american-religious-groups-vary-widely-in-their-views-of-abortion/

                • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                  Episcopalians are less than 2% of the US population. Jewish people and LGBT people are a bigger voting bloc. Using one of the most liberal and one of the smallest Christian denominations as evidence for what Christianity in the US is like is intentionally misleading, when more than 10x as many Americans consider themselves Evangelicals (about 1/4th).

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                It is unfortunate that you think so, there is a lot of wisdom in the various world religions.

                We may be beyond the need for religion, but I doubt even that.

            • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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              Well hey maybe religious people should stop consistently hurting other humans and society in general because they think their imaginary friend would be down with it.

              • Nahvi@lemmy.world
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                It sounds an awful like you are saying, “Well yeah, we are bigots, but we are bigots because they deserve it!”

                Am I misunderstanding you?

                • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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                  Yes, you are misunderstanding me.

                  I’m saying that religion has a richly documented history of intolerance and repression, up to and including the present day. I am simultaneously saying that I am intolerant of intolerance.

                  I feel like you should read up on this if you’re still struggling to wrap your head around the nuance of what pretty much everyone else in this comment tree besides yourself is expressing.

        • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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          Nope, my pointed disdain for backwards, illogical, regressive, exclusionary, predatory cults is showing. I don’t have a problem with religious people as long as they don’t force their shit onto others. Nationalist Christians are trying to force their bullshit theocracy onto the whole country, and that’s very fucking far from ok.

          For the record, I was raised catholic, and I noped the fuck out of that bullshit once I got old enough to ask incisive questions. Maybe you should too.

        • Dkcecil91@lemmy.world
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          Not all that strange, just go by a planned parenthood and check out the crazies accosting people outside of those.

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      It’s Philly, this is nothing new (Edit: since people love twisting words, I meant violence in general not the specific targeting of an activist journalist for Christ sake). I grew up in South Jersey (half way in between Philly and Atlantic City, NJ) and there’s always a headline on the nightly news about “X people were killed in a shootout today in West/South/North Philly today”, most people don’t see it though since Philly is overshadowed by NYC (anyone from Central Jersey and North gets NYC news). Everything but Center City has always been a shit hole for the most part.

      Edit: I live in NYC for 5 years, it of course has shitty areas all over too. Everyone is trying to act like major cities are perfect, crime free areas. Did people forget that the Italian and Irish mobs ran NYC and Philly for decades?!

        • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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          I didn’t say that was a common occurrence, I was saying violence and murder is common in Philly. It’s literally on the news almost every night.

          Of course this was a targeted attack.

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              No, it’s more like people are twisting my words. I simply meant violence and murder is nothing new in Philly. If you read the rest of what I wrote I clearly state that. Whose the one with selective reading?

            • ABCDE@lemmy.world
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              They said shootings, not your very specific example. You got a reason for your shitty attitude?

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        If you were halfway between Philly and Atlantic City, you were too far away from Philly to pretend to be an expert. But keep using that weak anecdotal “evidence” to continue your ignorant views on urban areas.

        Saying “Everything but Center City has always been a shit hole” gives you away. You have no fucking clue. Probably been at least a decade since you’ve driven within 30 miles of the city.

        • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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          So apparently the ABC nightly news is “anecdotal evidence”. My aunt lives in Philly, my brother’s works there frequently, I’m pretty aware of how Philly is.

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            It’s sensationalist, absolutely.

            edit: ok you’re right, the ABC Nightly News isn’t sensationalist. 🙄

            I also like how immediately after you claim it’s not anecdotal, you talk about how you know people who live there lol

      • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
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        I mean, shootings in bad parts of Philly and Camden aren’t new, but they’re gang-related. This sort of crime detailed in the article is not common, even in Philly. This guy was targeted. Someone he likely knew was in his home, because no one had to break in (I highly doubt he didn’t lock his door), and 7 shots is overkill. Journalists aren’t being targeted like this on the regular.

        Source: grew up 20 minutes outside of Philly in South Jersey

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          Amen.

          Americans have a culture problem, and it’s only getting worse with each generation since the 60s.

        • Nima@lemmy.world
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          what did I choose specifically? did I kill this man? am I advocating for his death?

          what is it you’d like one citizen to do. you want me to vote? I do that. every election. I canvas, I march, I try and protest things I want changed. I am doing all that I can. everyone I know does all they can.

          what else do you want from me? you’re talking like america is one giant collection of thugs. but that doesn’t help this man. doesn’t help his family. doesn’t help anything.

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            Judging by their attitudes they’ll have the exact day they deserve. And it will be their own making.

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              yeah seems to be an awful lot of people who just want to blame every death on “america.”

              nothing ever gets solved. no justice for this poor man.

              just “america sucks.”

              It’s depressing.

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        Yeah whatever you do, don’t improve or advocate for change, that would be awful.

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          oh I do advocate for change. the xenophobia towards americans is starting to get concerning.

          I can’t tell if it’s just for the memes anymore.

          this innocent dude is dead and we have people chanting “death to America”

          nothing gets fixed. trolls get fed their up votes. I love the internet. never change, guys!

          • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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            It isn’t xenophobia We’re not afraid of Americans we’re just sick of America’s complete refusal to improve even marginally, because “oh no not the constitution”.

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              the issue is assuming that every american wants this. lumping all of us in with the weirdos who shoot up innocent people when we want that to change.

              you want a revolution? fantastic. tell me. how do I start that? one person using a cheap smartphone to reply to a forum on. working a minimum wage job because that’s all I can do right now.

              I take issue with people pretending that every american is a school shooter or a redneck. we are all just normal people. the violence you see on your headlines want to grab your attention with vitriol towards a country.

              never solving the problem. if anything, making the issue worse. not better. it just separates the human issues and forces anger towards something that buys clicks.

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    On his website, he described himself as a “militant bicyclist” and “a proponent of the singular they, the Oxford comma, and pre-Elon Twitter.“

    [Emphasis mine] This is such an important issue to me. Contracts have been ruled upon because of the appearance or lack of the Oxford comma (a union got fucked because it wasn’t there). All his other traits are also admirable, but this is the unimportant-important thing that jumped out at me.

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      We should be more focused on people not making rash assumptions or accusations prior to all the facts of an event being known.

      This has absolutely nothing to do with fascists. I can’t even imagine how you came to that conclusion. It’s being reported as likely being a domestic dispute.

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      If by the fascists you’re referring to the criminals who murdered him, it’s too late. The victim was out there every day fighting to keep these criminals on the streets. We really do need to get tougher on crime, all over the West.

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        “They” are the ones in charge of catching each other, so not likely. Or they’ll find some black homeless person to take the blame and make it look like a robbery rather than a hate crime.

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            I mean there’s an official FBI report that says it white nationalists have infiltrated police departments and another that says they use their influence to prevent convictions of domestic violence perpetrated by white nationalists. Additionally there are plenty of reports in multiple cities to show that cops often plant evidence to convict people of crimes they didn’t commit in order to aid their career. And the victims are almost always black, usually mentally disabled, and often homeless or home-insecure. So it’s not a stretch.

            And I’m not talking about a conspiracy outside of the already proven idea that white nationalists have infiltrated police departments and alter evidence. One cop altering evidence for his buddies isn’t a conspiracy.

            And the only thing that could be considered a “theory”/hypothesis is that this was a targeted killing, rather than a random one like the media are already painting it as. And that the police will push that scenario and refuse to investigate white nationalist groups to see which ones sent him threats. We’ll just have to wait and see on that. I suppose it depends on if any witnesses or others go to the media with evidence.

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              “Cops often plant evidence to get convictions”- Police don’t prosecute, get your conspiracy theories straight.

              “This was a targeted killing”

              It almost certainly was, the victim was involved in drugs and probably knew violent people and kept in touch with them.

              The real case is far more likely to be “reformed drug addict killed by former acquaintance”, than “journalist killed for reporting issues”.

              • irotsoma@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                I didn’t say cops prosecute. But if they arrest someone and there’s no evidence, they don’t get credit for catching a criminal, just for throwing an innocent person in jail and that looks bad. So they plant evidence so that anyone they arrest gets convicted and sometimes so the real perpetrator doesn’t. It’s all very well documented. Just no one will arrest them for it since they are mostly all doing the same or have allowed it to happen without doing anything about it.

                • jasory@programming.dev
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                  Again, no. Cops can detain and investigate without making a formal arrest or bringing someone to jail. If it is questionable circumstances, then they will simply take statements and go for an arrest later.

                  There actually is a circumstance where police are incentivised to plant evidence, and that’s if you have a problematic individual (someone who gets the police called on them regularly), and planting evidence of a more serious crime would remove them from the street.

            • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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              You make a long of strong claims that require a lot of strong evidence and sources

              i know there are incidents, but the US has 300.000.000 people living there, it’s a guarantee that you’re going to have assholes.

              You claim it’s structural, that there are groups conspiring together to get this done. That is a big, big claim that better not come from a Facebook page.

              Mind linking that FBI report?

              • irotsoma@lemmy.world
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                I mean the report itself is not available to the public. There was a bulletin sent to police departments that was heavily redacted when released. This was like 15 years ago. Lots of other information has been released over time. The bulletin itself I couldn’t find with a quick Google search, but there is a lot of information about it that you can use Google to find. That’s not my job to prove. It’s not a small amount of info. So Google it. Here’s a link to get you started.

                https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/fbi-white-supremacists-in-law-enforcement

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    1 year ago

    when i first read this, i thought it was the journalist advocating for homless and lgbtq+ to be shot and killed

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    Two likely senarios:

    1. It’s someone he knows in the LGBT community who has beef with him over something not related to his activism. Maybe he pissed off someone he was trying to help. Maybe he was caught in a weird romantic triangle. Maybe he just befriended someone who is psycho.

    2. Or, it’s someone anti-LGBT who did it due to his activism or related to that.

    Could be either at this point.

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        It’s an option because a majority of victims know their killers personally. Now, that may also mean it’s scenario 2 or a family member or someone they had a bad business deal with or someone random. And I do take issue with the assumption that those two scenarios are the most likely. But it’s not out of the question.

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        The real world. Are you serious?
        Have you ever read a news story or just headlines on social media?

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            Ok. Did you bother to read the article at all before contributing such a stupid comment? No, you did not.
            Do better.

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        That’s exactly what I was thinking.

        While I’d like to believe there’s some grand conspiracy to silence this guy, I actually think it’s more likely this was done by someone he knew or was working with.

        I could easily see some angry, deranged homeless person killing a journalist just because he “didn’t like him.”

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        …do you pay attention to the news at all? The real world is soaked in domestic violence over ideological, especially in the west.

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        1 year ago

        Everyone knows when a journalist dies, we should look first at the unhoused population.

          • Krauerking@lemy.lol
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            People downvoting you cause they don’t like that it’s truly stupid that we have decided to whitewash homelessness with a cute word that doesn’t make you feel as bad.

            They are homeless, without a home, without shelter, those that have been pushed from the basic need of private shelter.

            If they want to call it unhoused sure, but they are indeed shelterless.

            • jasory@programming.dev
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              Well, homeless may refer to people who don’t legally possess shelter, while unsheltered or unhoused refers to people who don’t reside in any shelter. I think it is a useful distinction because you do encounter people who consider couch-surfing to be homelessness, even though the physical circumstances are quite different from living on the street.

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                I have been homeless 3 times in varying ways and for one of them got a hotel once every few days to sleep and shower. I really wasn’t better off for it.

                We are homeless because we have no space to be safe and feel protected. We are without a home. And there will never be a perfect word that covers everyone and doesn’t quite cover the nuance. But you paint with a broad brush and fill in the nuance after.

            • idiomaddict@feddit.de
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              Well I’m the one who used it and I’ve been homeless twice, so I’m glad that falls under acceptable use for you.

              It’s a survey term that gets better responses, not a whitewashing or emotionally insulated term.

              • Krauerking@lemy.lol
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                All ive seen on why I should use unhoused is because conservatives have tried to weaponize the word homeless into a pejorative term to blame the victim. Which means we are picking a new term to make people feel better about the issue and the consensus still seems to be homeless people say homeless.

                I would argue people would think being in a shelter makes you stop being unhoused while you are still very much homeless. Homeless reminds you the issue is that we can not get homes, just shelter. But maybe it makes people who feel the same while being better off feel bad idk.

                It’s like a return to hoovervilles. Sure there is shelter and it’s quasi housing but I doubt anyone in them at the time would call it a home. It’s not the word that is the problem but how people feel about the issue. A word change won’t change that entirely just confuse the dumber people for a minute while they catch up.

          • idiomaddict@feddit.de
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            Sorry you don’t like it.

            I have been homeless twice, but didn’t really feel it because I was able to get a hotel room and/or able to sleep at my workplace after work. I was working ~80 hours/week, so I was pretty insulated from feeling it, but it took years to realize that I was homeless (I don’t know, I grew up middle class and assumed it couldn’t be me?).

            It wasn’t until someone used the term unhoused, that I mentioned how my old boss used to let me and my ex sleep in the bar as long as we were gone by 11, then I realized that it had been me twice.

            Homeless technically refers to anyone without a home, but a lot of people who believe they are temporarily between homes would not identify as homeless (not even just out of classism, but not wanting to take resources from people who need them more, etc.). Unhoused tends to get a more complete response

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              No I for sure understand that unhoused can be used but it has a certain criteria to be used. but people are using a softer term for a serious issue and I hate it when it’s used to gloss over the harsher issue of the homeless like all they are struggling with is not having a home when it’s much more. Homeless and Unhoused are two very different terms.

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        Yup, which is why I’m inclined towards #1. Newer articles today state people close to him think it’s either domestic or drug related, which again, points more to scenario one.

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        Vast majority of violence is interpersonal and someone who was known prior to the violence.

      • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
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        That’s just not true at all. Ideological killings in the west are far less than domestic related ones.

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    Horrible title. Originally sounded like this was about a journalist who was advocating for the killing of homeless and LGBTQ.

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      Right? Makes it sound like a targeted attack specifically because of those issues.

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        You two are saying different things. The first poster just can’t read. Your point is more valid - we don’t know yet whether this attack was motivated by his activism. Though not unimaginable in the current circumstance.

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    Crime is pretty bad in Philadelphia, certainly not a place I would want to live. Though it does beat out St. Louis and Baltimore 3x over in murder rates.

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      He was shot 7 times. I’d bet this was personal, or that he was specifically targeted.

      To be clear, I know nothing other than what I just read in the article, but someone had to really want him dead to shoot him seven times, and no one else i.e. not a mass shooting.

    • jeffw@lemmy.worldM
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      Rural crime is pretty bad too. I’ve met literally like one person who was randomly attacked on the streets in Philly. The vast majority of crime is people killing people they know.

      • BombOmOm@lemmy.world
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        Philadelphia has over 3x the homicide rate as the country as a whole. Crime is quite bad in Philly.

        • jeffw@lemmy.worldM
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          TIL homicide is the only crime that exists

          Even if we’re talking about violent crime (which, itself is a minority of crime), homicide doesn’t even make up a majority or plurality

          • BombOmOm@lemmy.world
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            It’s a pretty solid metric to start with as it is the hardest to fudge. Homicides will be discovered. Other crimes can easily fly under the radar if nobody reports them.

            • prole@sh.itjust.works
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              Per capita. Red states are far worse when you look at an actual relevant statistic. Just Google it. Someone else in this thread even linked to the map.

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                Per capita

                Correct. Philly has over 5x the per-capita homicide rate as the nation as a whole. The city has a high crime rate.

                Per-capita homicide rates:

                • prole@sh.itjust.works
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                  Bad faith, and your links prove it. Comparing apples to oranges and manipulating data to suit yourself. Your first link goes to the wiki for “crime in the United States.”

                  Look at any (legitimate) source that breaks down the top most violent cities in the US, and see where Philly is on that list. Here’s one (based on FBI crime statistics): https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/most-violent-cities-in-america

                  Hmmm that’s weird, I don’t see Philadelphia at all… Baltimore is the only city I see on there that’s in the Northeast. Huh.

                  Most of the cities in the top 20 are southern or Midwestern cities. Red cities and/or cities in red states.

            • bobman@unilem.org
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              Can agree. Me and 4 of my friends all had our cars broken into in Houston.

              None of us reported it because we felt like there would be no point.

        • prole@sh.itjust.works
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          Do you know what “per capita” means? And no, it’s not just a fancy word to make liberals’ statistics look good (yes, I’ve argued with someone who said that).

          Why don’t you take a good honest look at a map of the homicide rate per capita and learn something.

          If one were to assume you are actually correct about that number (which I don’t, I don’t buy it)… Over 3x the homicide, and over 1000x the people on average. Are you capable of understanding that basic math, or…?

      • prole@sh.itjust.works
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        More people means more crime. On the aggregate.

        This person is ignoring the fact that per capita statistics are what’s relevant here. And those are very clear. People like this just pretend they don’t exist because it literally shows the opposite is true. That red, conservative, rural areas have far more violent crime and murder per capita.

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        Reduce wealth and income inequality somehow. There’s been no research on UBI reducing crime afaik and honestly I don’t know that it would work for that. People need to feel like they are doing valuable work.

        Cops on foot patrol in neighborhoods NOT to punish anyone but literally just to get to know the community and make eye contact.

        Access to training and education to promote moving into higher income and responsibility jobs.

        Mental health support (although people won’t want help as long as they are Fighting against the system)

        There need to be healthy, organic, non-crime non-drug non-gang groups for people to be part of. I don’t know what is are into these days. Basketball? Dancing on Tiktok? Anything social.

        • fosforus@sopuli.xyz
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          Reduce wealth and income inequality somehow.

          That’s not the whole story. Singapore is one of the safest countries in the world, and it has one of the highest gini coefficients (i.e. largest income inequality) in the world.

                • fosforus@sopuli.xyz
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                  If you believe the data, apparently. I’m guessing you don’t believe the data. I’m not for even scolding people for possessing or using any drugs, personally, but this doesn’t seem to be necessarily at odds with safety.

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            IIRC Singapore has a very specific and controlling demographic control system? Like regions have to have demographic breakdowns that approximate the national numbers or something?

            There are a bunch of social engineering things you can do to reduce crime. But good luck trying to tell Americans where they can and can’t move. Probably easier to just tax the super rich.

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      Yeah, I grew up in South Jersey, about an hour SE and there’s at least one news story about a murder that happened somewhere in Philly each night. Sometimes multiple separate shootings. Most of Philly is a shit hole.

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      Asshats like you certainly don’t help the Lou be better, you’re welcome to stay away forever while we enjoy our T-ravs

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        How dare one not want to live somewhere because of… checks statement… high crime rates.

        • JJROKCZ@lemmy.world
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          The crime rates are only the downtown city of St. Louis which due to STL’s unique political city/county split makes it an inaccurate comparison to every other city in the nation. Combine our county of city of St. Louis and St. Louis county together, and we’re not as bad as everyone makes us out to be. Every other city gets to use their full city metro area, both they love using St. Louis as a boogeyman because we’re split differently and they can count only the city downtown area for crime

          • SheeEttin@lemmy.world
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            Every other city gets to use their full city metro area, both they love using St. Louis as a boogeyman because we’re split differently and they can count only the city downtown area for crime

            Says who? I checked the FBI crime statistics. and they have rows for the STL MSA for 2016, 2017, and 2018, though not in the latest one from 2019, probably because they didn’t report the numbers to the FBI.

            https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s