A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
Democrats should temper their enthusiasm for HRC’s Benghazi committee performance. She’s not the first Secretary of State to do well before a hostile committee. During the investigation of the Iran-Contra scandal, then Secretary of State George Schultz testified before the Senate committee that ate Oliver North alive. Schultz testified without aides or notes, never stumbled, and never lost his cool. Facing a witch hunt, HRC simply had to avoid being a witch. Whether aid from Ativan or a similar pharmaceutical helped her keep her cool is unknown (but would have been a good idea), but she did use notes and a sizable contingent from Hillaryland was seated behind her for support. She earned a B+, not an A, and certainly not the honorary doctorate her uncritical advocates would bestow upon her for besting Trey Gowdy and his fellow bumblers.
At Big Sky Words, Greg Strandberg has detailed posts on Rep. Pat Noonan’s run for the PSC and Denise Juneau’s trial balloon for the U.S. House. Bookmark his page on Juneau, as it has numerous useful links.
That, reports the Flathead Beacon, would free up 14 beds for adult offenders, taking some of the pressure off the overstuffed Flathead County jail.
That’s not my preferred solution. Exile in Missoula isolates the juveniles, makes it harder and more expensive for their families to maintain contact with them, and drives up of cost of providing them with legal representation. No doubt some incarcerated juveniles are headed for a life of crime no matter where they are imprisoned, but making it harder and costlier to get them back on the straight and narrow makes no sense.
Curry’s proposal certainly calls attention to the county’s need for more jail cells, but before sending juveniles into exile, let’s review the existing adult prisoner population to determine how many actually need to be locked up. Is it possible that the presence in the pokey of some who cannot make bail amounts to preventive detention?
Hurricane Patricia hit the west coast of Mexico with 165 mph winds, doing far less damage than anticipated thanks to good planning and a bit of luck — major cities avoided a direct hit — then weakened into a tropical storm after hitting the northern end of the Sierra Madre del Sur. Although a Category V hurricane, the storm’s most powerful winds extended only 15 or so miles outside the eyewall. Mexico has major problems, but it does a good job of dealing with hurricanes.