Comments on Pro Libertate: "This is America": The Day Police Firebombed West Philadelphia

Great article William. I didn't remember this...

2015-05-13T18:37:02.734-06:00

Great article William. I didn't remember this incident. Nice to have the re-cap. Good to read the revisionist version of forgotten and / or under-reported atrocities from the past. - David Hathaway

Will, great piece, as usual. No mistaking the loc...

2015-05-12T19:11:00.569-06:00

Will, great piece, as usual. No mistaking the location of your photo as the old "studio" under the stadium. I miss that old place.

jk

Remember in recent history when the the government...

2015-05-11T06:04:29.058-06:00

Remember in recent history when the the government was moving small armies of part-time employees to GPS, every front door in the US? Why? GPS and maps have made it so a 16 year old high school kid can get a pizza delivered to pretty much every address in the US. But why GPS every front door. They did not GPS the house at the curb but the front door. Almost like having the exact information for a Hellfire dart launching off a unmanned aircraft.

Some wag at the time noted the Philly PD had chan...

2015-05-10T20:45:44.768-06:00

Some wag at the time noted the Philly PD had changed its motto to "Tora, Tora, Tora."

And Police Commissioner Rizzo once bragged "The Philadelphia Police Department could invade Cuba ... and win!"

With a mind set such as that is it any wonder an entire block was gutted?

I have searched and searched, to no avail, for the...

2015-05-10T08:00:44.054-06:00

I have searched and searched, to no avail, for the cartoon that USA Today ran at the time. As I recall, it showed Mayor Wilson Goode in a biplane, over West Philly, hanging over the side with a bomb in his hand (WW I style). I would very much appreciate it if anyone could send me a copy of that cartoon and the story that accompanied it.

If you can, please send to henrymorgan@tampabay.rr.com

I really appreciate your kindness, and I'm hon...

2015-05-10T01:11:34.653-06:00

I really appreciate your kindness, and I'm honored by the company in which you have put me. Thank you so much.

It's good to know you're still posting to ...

2015-05-10T00:36:35.273-06:00

It's good to know you're still posting to lewrockwell.com; still this is, I think, infinitely better. I've wanted to talk to you about more than one of your articles in the past, and Lew's site just doesn't have the set-up for that. Being able to comment on your blog here is a treat for me.

So, the one thing I've always wanted to say to you is that I have read your articles for years, now. Since the first time my dad ever pointed one of them out to me. You, Tom Woods, and Radley Balko are my go-to guys for news.

Keep up the good work, and I'll keep reading.

From Been Down That Road: Thank you, Will! I'...

2015-05-09T19:06:05.599-06:00

From Been Down That Road:

Thank you, Will! I've been waiting for some good commentary on the Philadelphia incident for 30 years. Finally, here it is.

I was 25 when this atrocity went down; young, idealistic Republican, still thinking that The Government was My Government. How foolish I was until I read the trickle of information in the Rocky Mountain News. It was then that I lost my political virginity.

It was the first eye-opening event that eventually led to my education. As I read the news stories, I kept thinking, "What the hell?! They BOMBED those people! What the hell is going on with my government?"

Some 25 years later, I finally read Burning Down the House and realized that the MOVE folks were not exactly wholesome and innocent, but still, What the hell? Drop a bomb on people you could have just arrested? Drop a bomb on a neighborhood of stick-built row houses, all guaranteed to burn to the ground if you bomb just one of them? What the hell?

Now, after Ruby Ridge, Waco, Oklahoma City and New York, I understand what the hell it was about. The so-called "government," not mine anymore, had to start somewhere with it's end game of total take over, and this seems to be that opening maneuver.

From some of the investigations by the authors of Burning Down the House, it seems that it all started with a CIA-style psy-op to get "John Africa" started. He was befriended and closely associated with a shadowy white professor from a local college who provided him with firearms and frequent guidance, then disappeared from the scene at about the time the psychos in power began plotting a military attack. Makes you think of Jim Jones and his ill-fated cult.

As the story unfolds, per the book, it seems like the whole thing was scripted by an unseen hand. When the MOVE people provoked the city powers, they often made remarks along the lines of, "you'll just have to burn us out." or some such; and it was like the police took that as what they would, indeed, do, whether they needed to or not. Like: "Oh, okay. We'll have to just burn you out."

The city had already cut the utilities, but the MOVE people had prepared. Plus, they had started hauling gasoline to the rooftop, too, as if they, together with the "law enforcement" were preparing for the same conflagration.

At any rate, I wasn't wrong to think back in 1985 that this was just the first "What the hell?" event of many more to come. How sad that I was right.

William, Don't forget that the parallels betw...

2015-05-08T16:09:36.019-06:00

William,

Don't forget that the parallels between the two incidents do not end there.

Former Federal Prosecutor Henry Ruth Jr. served on the 'cover-up' commission that 'investigated' MOVE and then also went on to serve on the commission which 'investigated' WACO.

I guess someone thought he did such a good job covering up the first set of murders that he was well qualified to do the same thing for the massacre of Branch Davidians.

Excellent post by the way.

Carol

hello, Will - ran across the link below at antiwa...

2015-05-08T08:57:59.512-06:00

hello, Will -

ran across the link below at antiwar.com. seems things have been as they are now for a long time, albeit on different fronts than the Power family faced.

http://original.antiwar.com/Max_McNabb/2015/05/07/the-power-brothers-wwi-draft-resisters/

I'm still a contributor over at LRC; Lew is in...

2015-05-08T08:01:04.668-06:00

I'm still a contributor over at LRC; Lew is in charge of selecting the articles published in the body of the page. It's been quite a while since I posted anything to the blog section of the site, but that's due to a technical issue I haven't had time to fix.

Off topic, Will...are you not posting your stuff t...

2015-05-08T07:44:20.468-06:00

Off topic, Will...are you not posting your stuff to Lew Rockwell, anymore? It's been a couple of weeks since you had anything go up over there. Not that it matters anymore, since I just switched my bookmark to here, I'm just curious.