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1. Krasner receives endorsement from Democratic ward leader convicted of sex offenses against a minor

By Todd Shepherd
 

A Philadelphia Democratic ward leader with recent felony convictions for sex crimes against a minor under the age of thirteen gave a de facto endorsement to District Attorney Larry Krasner on Saturday according to sources and a video, creating the odd and unseemly spectacle of a district attorney receiving support from a political leader prosecuted by his office who must now register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

The developments set off a new wave of unease among the many Philly Democratic party leaders who have long opposed the former defense attorney turned prosecutor on the merits, but which leaders have also felt hamstrung in speaking out against Krasner because of his close ties to monied progressive kingmakers like billionaire George Soros and a progressive grassroots determined to drag the Democratic City Committee to the ideological left.

Sources say (and video appears to confirm) 52nd Ward Leader Stephen Jones, 79, endorsed Krasner by inviting him to a signature-gathering breakfast, a clear and unequivocal show of support in the language of ward politics.

Why It Matters.  Sentencing in the case is set for May 22, two days after the municipal primary concludes — at which time Jones will be 80 and the city will know whether Krasner is back on the glide path for re-election or if the city will have a new top cop.
Krasner is expected to face his toughest primary challenge yet, as former Philadelphia municipal judge Patrick Dugan has also joined the race. A Dugan representative said its campaign was not invited to the same breakfast.

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2. Ghosts of government cuts past

By Andy Bloom
 

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who is leading DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), continue moving at lightning speed and, in the process, causing Democrats to lose their collective minds. 

The point of DOGE is to reduce waste, inefficiency, duplication, and fraud within the federal government, principles Democrats supported when Barack Obama and Bill Clinton were president. 

Clinton launched numerous initiatives, placing Al Gore in charge of what eventually became known as “Reinventing Government.” 

Between 1993 and 2000, the Clinton administration eliminated a net of 426,000 federal jobs, most from the Department of Defense, which lost eighteen percent of its civilian workforce. Clinton used various methods to achieve the reductions, including offering buyouts of up to $25,000 to eligible employees who left voluntarily.

Why It Matters. I understand that Trump and Musk are moving quickly. They are swinging axes. Obama and Clinton used scalpels.

There’s a good reason Obama and Clinton could use scalpels, and Trump needs to use an axe.
In 2000, the national debt was $5.659 trillion, about 56 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

By the end of fiscal year 2010, the total federal debt reached $13.562 trillion, 93 percent of GDP.

The debt is growing at an accelerated pace. It’s over $36 trillion and is projected to reach $37 trillion in June. The debt is now over 130 percent of GDP. The impending disaster is obvious and coming fast. 

It’s long past time to take an axe to the federal government and spending.

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3. Lightning Round

• Beth Ann Rosica: Pennsylvania gets an A in educational funding and a D in student outcomes

• CBSD teachers’ discrimination lawsuit continues after setback

• Paul Davis: Trump’s DHS says criminals are not welcome in the United States

• Campaign finance filings raise new questions about link between D.A. Krasner and disgraced Democratic ward leader

• Michael Thomas Leibrandt: How will Deepseek AI-R affect Philadelphia?

• Wally Zimolong: Democrats are Article II deniers

4. This Tie Made History

5. Having an Impact

We cover news that matters, and sometimes we are even able to make a difference. A part of Broad + Liberty’s mission has always been to give voice to issues and ideas that have been shut out of our discourse for too long. Sometimes that is a nationwide trend, sometimes it is a local injustice.

Beth Ann Rosica uncovered one such injustice in our region when the Chester County Health Department shut down the kitchen at St. Agnes Catholic Church in West Chester, a place that had for decades provided free, hot meals to the needy members of their community. A classic case of malicious government overreach, the county health officials suddenly adopted a stricter standard on food preparation than they ever had before — and stricter than any other county in the commonwealth. 

Even in the very progressive borough of West Chester, shutting down a church’s efforts to feed the poor met with some opposition, but it might have slipped under the radar if not for Rosica’s reporting. Instead, the word got out, the people rallied, and elected officials listened — the perfect result for a good cause, and one that would not have happened but for the generous support of Broad + Liberty readers.

5. What we're reading

The mainstream media is bending over backward to make the Trump administration look reasonable. On CBS’s Face the Nation last week, anchor Margaret Brennan indignantly told Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the Holocaust was caused by an excess of free speech. Rubio patiently disabused her of this wildly ahistorical notion. As Paul du Quenoy noted for the Telegraph this week, it was just the latest example of how “America’s legacy media desperately grasps at straws to maintain its languishing credibility.” 

You might have thought that the second Trump administration would induce less unhinged derangement than the first. After all, we’ve all done this before just four years ago. But no, the mainstream press is going about with its hair on fire, just like it was 2017 again. And looking all the more foolish for it.