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Flap’s Links and Comments for April 28th on 18:27

These are my links for April 28th from 18:27 to 21:13:

  • Jerry Brown pulls plug on building San Quentin’s new death row – Gov. Jerry Brown pulled the plug today on plans to construct a new housing facility for condemned inmates at San Quentin.

    Brown said in a statement that he believes it would "be unconscionable to earmark $356 million for a new and improved death row while making severe cuts to education and programs that serve the most vulnerable among us."

    That bill would add an estimated $28.5 million general fund costs in annual debt service payments, his office said.

    "At a time when children, the disabled and seniors face painful cuts to essential programs, the State of California cannot justify a massive expenditure of public dollars for the worst criminals in our state," said Brown. "California will have to find another way to address the housing needs of condemned inmates."

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    Jerry Brown is grandstanding again. He knows inmates will go to court which will order the expenditure.

    Besides Brown opposes the death penalty anyway and will try to derail California executions by any backhanded method he can.

    Remember Chief Justice rose Bird who was appointed by Brown and recalled by the people of California?

  • President 2012: The silver lining of the Trump show – But I don’t agree that this is all bad news for the Republican field of candidates and for the party as a whole. For one thing, those potential candidates not yet in the race can take their time, secure in the knowledge that nothing aside from the Trump travesty is going on for now. And the other candidates and potential candidates, some of whom I would argue have been too hastily dismissed by the punditocracy — e.g. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and those who seem to lack gravitas now seem more grounded and serious in comparison to the egomaniacal buffoon who has punchlines, not positions, on the issues. So Tim Pawlenty isn’t that exciting, but see how “exciting” has its limits? Maybe Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) has been too focused on one issue (the debt) to the exclusion of all others, but at least he’s obsessed with something important. (Certainly, any political coverage of the 2012 race that doesn’t concern RomneyCare is good news for the former Massachusetts governor.)

    And we shouldn’t get carried away here. It is far from clear Trump will actually run for office, and unimaginable that a majority or even plurality of Republican primary voters will throw their votes and their chance to retake the White House down the drain by backing Trump. Eventually, a serious candidate or two will rise to the top of the heap and Trump will be a regrettable but ultimately irrelevant footnote in our political history.

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    Absolutely agree….