Staphmeal Blogger Needs Scooter, Launches Crowdfunding Campaign

You probably know Joshua Scott Albert better as Staphmeal, the foul-mouthed once-anonymous blogger who attacked restaurateurs like Marc Vetri and Georges Perrier with his words and eventually got arrested for threatening cops. Well, these days, when he’s not entertaining offers to throw mud at Point Breeze developer Ori Feibush, Albert is taking pictures and chasing news stories.

Albert is the first contributor working for The Declaration, a Philadelphia news blog started in 2013 by writers Kenneth Lipp and the awesomely named Dustin Slaughter. The Declaration is a combination of aggregated news stories and original reporting, mostly on civic and social issues.

Their most recent original reports are about the SEPTA Police body cameras and a pro-Palestinian protest outside the Israeli consulate in Center City, the latter including photos from Albert that suggest he’s serious about breaking into photojournalism.

To help him with this cause, Albert, Lipp and Slaughter have launched a crowdfunding campaign via IndieGogo, asking for $1,300 to equip Albert with a police scanner, to give him a heads up on what’s happening in the city, and a scooter, to get him there quickly.

The campaign launched on Monday and is at $41 of the goal.

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