• Pinboard Links

    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….

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for April 5th on 12:05

    These are my links for April 5th from 12:05 to 13:47:

    • Mitch Daniels on Paul Ryan Budget: ‘First Serious Proposal Produced by Either Party’ – Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, who referred to the growing national debt as our generation’s “red threat” during his February CPAC speech, has issued this statement in response to Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget:

      The House budget resolution is the first serious proposal produced by either party to deal with the overriding issue of our time. The national debt we are amassing threatens the livelihood and the liberty of every single American, and in particular the life prospects of our young people.

      Anyone criticizing this plan without offering a specific and equally bold program of his own has failed in the public duty to be honest and clear with Americans about the gravest danger we are facing together.

    • San Francisco supes to vote on Twitter tax break – A tax break to keep Twitter from fleeing San Francisco is coming up for a vote by city lawmakers as part of a package to revive a blighted neighborhood.

      The vote by the Board of Supervisors expected Tuesday afternoon would exempt the microblogging service from paying the city's payroll tax on new hires.

      The tax break would apply to any business in the crime-plagued neighborhood.

      Twitter is fast on its way to outgrowing its current San Francisco headquarters. The company said it would commit to moving into the city's Mid-Market neighborhood if it got the break, which would also exempt stock options from the tax.

      Critics, including the city's largest employees union, have called the plan backed by Mayor Ed Lee an ill-conceived corporate giveaway.

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      Good luck with this San Francisco.