1) Dan McQuade has a new weekly column in the Philly Weekly, focused on the idiocy of the drug war. There are few policies stupider than the drug war, so I think this could be a really valuable addition to the media discussion.

In his first week, he talks about how goofy it is that we have those shots of cops 'celebrating' their big drug busts, when we know that within a week or two, there will be just as many drugs out on the street:

In essence, if the Philadelphia police seize 748 pounds of cocaine, 748 more pounds will soon be on its way into Philadelphia. ”By the end of two weeks, there will be little evidence left at all that a record–sized drug bust ever occurred, other than the police records and the past media reports,” David Borden, founder and director of the Drug War Resource Network, writes.

One thing I hope he covers is the total cost of the drug war to the City- from police to incarceration, etc. There are very few things that could magically put the city in a better fiscal position than ending this bizarrely stupid policy.

2) In an article after my own heart, the School District has closed down two failing Germantown Charter schools. This is the first time the district has shut charter schools down due to underperformance, and likely is long overdue. One of the schools was run by Germantown Settlement, the amorphous Germantown CDC writ large, that sucks up Germantown development money, and is part and parcel of the Donna Miller machine. Given how poorly Germantown Settlement does so much, the school underperforming is not surprising. Now, what about the other charters in Philly that are basically little fiefdoms of politicians and political groups?

There are some charters that seem to be doing very well. But too many were given to people who don't really appear to have any experience actually, you know, running schools. If the School District is serious about closing down underperforming charters, I suspect many of the little fiefdom schools will be closed.

3) Inveterate racist, and Geno's Steaks owner, Joey Vento wants an apology from the City, and a meeting with Mike Nutter. Additionally, he is threatening to sue the City- using a right-wing think tank from Atlanta- to change our anti-discrimination laws.

Just a reminder to anyone in the City thinking about meeting with Vento, are his statements like these:

[Illegal Hispanics] are killing, like, 25 of us a day … molesting about eight children a day … All we’re getting is drug dealers and murderers.”

......

What else is going on?