"The death penalty may be dying, but not in Florida"
"The year-end report from the Death Penalty Information Center, released Wednesday, highlights Florida and a handful of other states for bucking national trends that reflect growing disfavor among Americans toward the death penalty." "Study: Florida remains ‘outlier,’ as death penalty declines nationwide."
Bill Cotterell: "The death penalty may be dying, but not in Florida. . . . The national trend might be away from capital punishment, though the statistics are more attributable to conditions on the ground in each court and legislature, in each killer’s case. But Florida’s still got about 400 condemned prisoners and there’s no change in the legal or political will around here." "Death penalty decline is not a trend, just a circumstance."
Running on empty
"The idea of killing the Florida State Employees’ Charitable Campaign isn’t new, it turns out."
A proposal to ditch the campaign circulated last year among staff at the Governor’s Office, the Department of Management Services and other state agencies. Among other things, it pointed out most of the campaign's dwindling donations were going to a state vendor, Solix, Inc."The policy paper was written by two law students, Alex Andrade and David Mica Jr., who were participating in the prestigious Florida Gubernatorial Fellows program."
It was so well received, it won the fellowship’s top honor, the Jeb Bush Award, presented to the students by Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera. And now, the title of the paper has worked its way into DMS’ talking points on the FSECC."State's FSECC talking points echo student paper."
Big of 'em
"Lawmakers open to raises for state workers."
Pimping Jeb!
The Tampa Trib editors are crying in their beer, dumbfounded that many "national commentators were quick to dismiss Jeb Bush’s effective performance."
Having been granted an audience by the desperate Mr. Bush, the star struck editors pimp their man, trumpeting that Jeb! "provides detailed — and realistic — strategies, not vague promises or grandiose boasts. Bush, for instance," . . . prepare yourself to be bowled over by this detailed and realistic strategy . . . Jeb!
would seek to quickly ignite the “tepid” recovery by freeing the nation of unnecessary and costly regulations."Don’t count out Jeb Bush."
Of course, those with the most to gain - those who can profit by their access to Jebbie, the "Florida political insiders [are] not ready to count Jeb out of race."
Daniel Ruth gives a more accurate assessment: "Given up for dead, the only question remaining was who would dispose of the political corpse of former Gov. Jeb Bush. But the big lug demonstrated during last week's Republican presidential debate that he still has a pulse. Barely." "Jeb Bush plays tough guy."
Jeb! also has that intellectual thing going on: "Continuing strategy of assailing Trump, Bush calls him ‘a jerk’."
More corporate welfare
"Gaetz wants oversight of tourism dollars."
"Prepare for the hounds to be released."
Joe Henderson: "Unless you’re all-in on every National Rifle Association demand, or if you dare suggest a sane reason why sometimes a gun restriction might be a good idea, prepare for the hounds to be released."
The NRA and its puppets in the Legislature — most notably the Florida House — want the state’s 1.4 million people with concealed weapons permits to have freedom to brandish their guns openly. When the NRA wants something, it tolerates no opposition."Can’t anyone even raise a reasonable question about guns? Evidently not."
Weekly Roundup
"Weekly Roundup: A Political Science Symposium and Lots of Pot."
Florida's Lowell, "the largest women’s prison in the nation"
The Miami Herald writes about the
untold numbers of Lowell inmates who have suffered serious misdiagnoses, delays in treatment and medical neglect over the past decade. The institution — the largest women’s prison in the nation — also has a long history, documented in reports and medical audits, of alarming and even life-threatening deficiencies, ranging from failing to provide routine medications to delaying treatment for inmates with potentially fatal illnesses."Rats, bugs and ‘natural’ deaths at nation’s largest women’s prison."