This morning, the NY Times asserted that Trump's Conspicuous Silence Leaves a Struggle Against Russia Without a Leader. OK, but who will protect our country from Trump? With shameless Trump enablers Paul Ryan and Miss McConnell in charge of Congress, there's exactly zero hope from either the Senate or House. Mueller seems like a serious guy but Trump can fire him when he feels like he needs to. So that leaves the states. And there's basically one state most people count on-- or, at least one state Attorney General: New York's Eric Schneiderman. He's suing the Trump Regime over DACA and over more bullshit EPA actions, Busy guy. Busy heroic guy. Where are the other blue state attorneys general. Eh... spinning their wheels mostly, I'm afraid. I hope I'm wrong.That said, there was some very good news out of Philly Friday. Philly isn't a state but the population is about 1.6 million. That's more than 11 states (with attorneys general): Hawaii, New Hampshire, Maine Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont and Wyoming. Philly has a new District Attorney, which is not an Attorney General. Pennsylvania's AG, Josh Shapiro, is a garden variety politician, kind of a hack. He's not going to lead on anything except on his own p.r. He talks a good anti-Trump game, but not as good as my neighbor Cynthia. He writes protest letters but if we had to depend on Josh Shapiro to protect us from Trump, I would have probably moved back to Amsterdam by now. Larry Krasner, on the other hand... Last week his office announced it's suing 10 pharmaceutical companies in connection with the opioid epidemic and is dropping all outstanding marijuana possession charges.That isn't the same as protecting us from Trump, but it's more what voters expect of chief law enforcement officers now than what most attorneys general are doing.
In just a little over a month since taking office, Krasner has already built on the progress that began under former mayor Michael Nutter’s administration by further reforming the city’s drug policy to the point where getting busted with pot now no longer means a court date is in your future. Krasner says citations are issued approximately 90 percent of the time someone is caught with marijuana.“What we’re talking about is the 10 percent or so that are being charged as they used to be, as misdemeanors in court,” Krasner said during a press conference Thursday. From now on, the DA will advise his staff not to pursue criminal charges against anyone arrested for marijuana possession in the city. Citations currently range from $25 for possession to $100 for those caught toking up in public.“I did it because I felt it was the right thing to do,” Krasner said when asked of his motivation. “We could use those resources to solve homicides.”Additionally, the DA’s office said that it had filed a lawsuit on February 2nd against Big Pharma under Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Laws for their alleged role in creating the city’s opioid epidemic. The defendants are Purdue Pharma, L.P.; Purdue Pharma, Inc.; The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc.; Allergan Finance, LLC; Cephalon, Inc.; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.; Endo Health Solutions, Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Johnson & Johnson.“The City of Philadelphia has been hurt, more than any other city in the nation, by the scourge of opioids,” Krasner said in a release. “The time to act is now, which is why I’ve taken this unprecedented action, in parallel with the City of Philadelphia’s suit, to stop these companies from systematically distracting the public from knowing the true dangers of opioid use as they reap billions of dollars in profits.”