Tom Knott: Once again, Tom Knott has managed to take what seems to be an isolated incident and turn it into evidence that liberalism of any sort is just evil. This week, Knott recounts the badly-handled trial of a Liberian immigrant accused of raping a seven-year-old girl in Montgomery County. Due to some bad decision by the trial judge, the charges were eventually dropped, though the county has stated that it will appeal. Regardless, it’s not one judge that made a bad call, it’s the whole damn county, according to Knott. “This is Montgomery County for you. Its leaders will go out of their way to be as hospitable as possible to anyone who falls under the multicultural diversity umbrella. It does not matter if the person is a member of the MS-13 gang wreaking havoc on the community,” he writes.

Harry Jaffe: This week Jaffe hits up an issue I’ve known all too well in my five years living on the Hill — the growing chasm between rich and poor, project and condo. Using the announced re-development of the Old Naval Hospital on Pennsylvania Avenue SE as context, Jaffe notes that while parts of Capitol Hill have enjoyed a renaissance of late, others still remain plagued by poverty, drugs and crime. “Drive through the Capitol Hill neighborhood these days, and you might see a swell community of row homes and new development along the avenues,” he writes. “But head back into the community closer to RFK Stadium, where Independence and Constitution avenues run toward the Anacostia River, and you will see Capitol Hill’s other side: poverty, joblessness, homelessness, drug addiction — urban afflictions that real estate developers would rather not recognize.”

Jonetta Rose Barras: If there is one thing an elected official never wants to do, it’s start taking people off the city payroll. But when it comes to the District’s failing schools, that’s exactly what Mayor Adrian Fenty and D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray have to do, she argues this week. “Will they be more concerned about 11,000 employees than 50,000 children registered in D.C. Public Schools and their taxpaying parents? Will they protect workers, most of whom aren’t District residents, or citizens who year after year finance a corporation that can’t ensure that students read and perform mathematical equations at proficient — never mind advanced — levels?”