California Doing California Things

[Politesse]

I woke up late this morning and my cats were super pissed at me. That's way more important to me than anything a brick wall has to say.

Strong Republican partisans, are they?

 

[Politesse]

Maybe Mr Hilton should throw his hat in with the Jefferson crowd next. Does he know how to crank a generator?

 

[Politesse]

Proposition 40, AKA the proposed "billionaire tax", failed miserably. Not surprising, given that even the Democratic leadership bitterly condemned the bill. But, look forward to years of Tswizzle citing it as evidence of our collective insanity for years to come, anyway.

I hope Steve Spielberg feels like a fucking moron now, moving to New York in protest of a bill that in the end didn't actually pass! Dolt. (You can be brilliant at some things and ridiculous in others).

 

[Politesse]

This reporting blooper this morning gave me a chuckle. I know California is a big and complex state, but there are some important differences between a county and a lake, such as population and quantity of arable land.

 

[bilby]

there are some important differences between a county and a lake, such as population

Well, that depends how popular angling is in CA.

 

[TSwizzle]

Not only did California voters vote to keep the death penalty, they voted to speed the process up.

Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, has commuted the death sentences of more than 500 people on the state’s death row on Thursday, a move that ensures they can never be executed under future administrations.

Teh Grauniad

No Kings, huh.

 

[Derec]

Proposition 40, AKA the proposed "billionaire tax", failed miserably. Not surprising, given that even the Democratic leadership bitterly condemned the bill. But, look forward to years of Tswizzle citing it as evidence of our collective insanity for years to come, anyway.

It was a poor proposal, even as "billionaire wealth tax" proposals go. And yes, it is a sign of insanity that it even got that far.

There are ways to increase taxes on the wealthy without making it a confiscatory wealth tax. Also, there are not that many billionaires. 1%ers or even 2%ers should also pay higher taxes, and there is many more of them (billionaires are ~0.0006% of California population).

 

[Politesse]

Not only did California voters vote to keep the death penalty, they voted to speed the process up.

Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, has commuted the death sentences of more than 500 people on the state’s death row on Thursday, a move that ensures they can never be executed under future administrations.

Teh Grauniad

No Kings, huh.

I actually kind of agree with you on this one. There's a legal appeals process; pardons and commutations disrupt that process, and call the jury process into question. This move of Newsom's, which was clearly mafe without actual review of the involved cases bit is rather an ideological opposition to the position that Californian voters have reinforced several times over, is an especially egregious abuse of power, using executive privilege to achieve an agenda that democratic process did not.

But I will also note that unlike many other states, his power in this regard is not absolute. For those convicted of multiple felonies (most of them) the decision goes to the State Supreme Court, whose members can overturn the ruling by majority vote. I have to wonder whether particularly egregious cases like that of Charles Ng will challenge those justices' customary loyalty to the governor.

 

[Politesse]

And yes, it is a sign of insanity that it even got that far.

All it takes is 874,000 signatures and 2000 bucks.

Also, there are not that many billionaires.

There were 214. There are now 207, though I suspect a few of those chumps will move back now that the threat has passed.

On the other hand, those 214 individuals controlled more than half of the GDP of one of the wealthiest single polities in the world.