The Take: Budgets, ballistics and blockages. Oh, my!
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Budgets, budgets and more budgets. Sacramento’s city budget passed Tuesday, followed by the county’s on Wednesday. The state budget passed Wednesday, too, to the tune of $122.5 billion. And before 5 p.m., a stunner to those who remember the chronic budget stalemates of years past.
“Very anticlimactic,” tweeted AP Capitol correspondent Juliet Williams. “Is this a trick?”
The Legislative Women’s Caucus applauded the end of the maximum family grant, aka “welfare queen” law. Senate Democrats applauded the child care and preschool investment.
Assembly Republicans grudgingly noted “some positive aspects,” including a record $72 billion for education and increased law enforcement funding.
Gov. Jerry Brown tweeted kudos from on high: “Good work from the state legislature: we’re building reserves and investing in CA. Thanks. #CaBudget”
In the fine print, something else worth applauding, at Sen. Lois Wolk’s urging: $5 million for a Firearm Violence Research Center at the University of California. A small but timely answer to the NRA’s long-standing success in blocking federal spending on gun violence research.
Take cover
Meanwhile, nationally, the debate continued to rage over the so-called terrorist gun loophole in the wake of Sunday’s shooting at an Orlando nightclub.
Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump switched gears, suggesting he would consider banning people on the watch lists from buying guns. He actually appeared to agree with his nemesis in the Senate, Elizabeth Warren, who tweeted “We can keep Rambo-style assault weapons out of the hands of those who would do us harm.” Wonders never cease.
Take a number: 1,458
Senate Democrats were going strong Wednesday evening, fighting the good filibuster fight to force a debate with Republicans over gun control. But they had a long way to go if they want to break the record. That’s held by Strom Thurmond, the longtime South Carolina senator who spoke for 1,458 minutes – 24 hours, 18 minutes – in a failed attempt to derail the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
Our take
Editorial: Details, details on Sacramento railyard plan.
Editorial: Why keep banning gay men from giving blood?.
Shawn Hubler: What we should talk about now in the Brock Turner case.
Marcos Breton: Hate speech from Sacramento Baptist preacher is nothing but extremism.
Soapbox: A step backward for justice reform.
Soapbox: Public education fails too many Hispanic students.
Their take
Los Angeles Times: Saving the internet from the whims of service providers.
Orange County Register: Banning ex parte communications for the California Coastal Commission? It’s a nice idea, but inadequate.
San Francisco Chronicle: It’s time to get to the bottom of the Oakland police scandal.
Charlotte Observer: Will Orlando help us see our common humanity?
Kansas City Star: Gov. Jay Nixon should veto bad changes to Missouri’s Clean Water Commission.
Syndicates’ take
E.J. Dionne Jr.: GOP trapped by Trump extremism.
Dana Milbank: The right response to Trump? A media blackout.
Thomas L. Friedman: Lessons of Hiroshima and Orlando.
Leonard Pitts Jr.: A massacre and a funeral.
Take a look
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, architect of the gun control initiative Safety For All, is using Instagram to put faces to the names of the 49 people who were senselessly gunned down in Orlando. “Over the next week, I will be posting a photo of each victim individually – we must speak their names and tell their stories.” And what beautiful stories they are.
This story was originally published June 15, 2016 at 5:30 AM with the headline "The Take: Budgets, ballistics and blockages. Oh, my!."