By Chris Powell Joe Lieberman was Connecticut’s most consequential politician of his era, holding high office in the state for 40 of the 42 years between 1971 and 2013, 24 of those in the U.S. Senate. He was also often an insurgent and sometimes crossed his party’s establishment in a big way but got awayContinue reading “Lieberman long was state’s most consequential politician”
Author Archives: cxpowell
Hartford doesn’t need hockey; and state’s ‘values’ don’t help
By Chris Powell Some people think that Hartford’s decline began in 1997 when the city’s National Hockey League team, the Whalers, left for North Carolina. Governor Lamont seems to be one of them, though the city’s plunge into poverty and dysfunction started at least 30 years earlier. For a few years in the 1980s andContinue reading “Hartford doesn’t need hockey; and state’s ‘values’ don’t help”
Where did journalism go? And Cardona gets a pass
By Chris Powell What’s going on here? It seems as if more former Connecticut journalists now are employed doing publicity for state government than there are journalists reporting about state government. An unofficial list of recent transfers from journalism to government publicity in Connecticut includes: — Samaia Hernandex, formerly with WTNH-TV8 in New Haven andContinue reading “Where did journalism go? And Cardona gets a pass”
If schools had discipline, they would not have racism
By Chris Powell Cromwell lately has been convulsing over a student’s at-first anonymous public complaints about racist or abusive conduct by other students in school. What was the first action taken in response by the school administration and the town’s Board of Education? Of course it was to hire a consultant — an expert inContinue reading “If schools had discipline, they would not have racism”
Trooper isn’t the biggest reason why mentally ill man was killed
By Chris Powell Mubarak Soulemane shouldn’t be dead. He shouldn’t have been shot to death by state Trooper Brian North in January 2020 as he sat in the car he had hijacked, boxed in by police cruisers under a highway overpass in West Haven after a long chase from Norwalk. The car’s doors and windowsContinue reading “Trooper isn’t the biggest reason why mentally ill man was killed”
Crime without consequences hastens Connecticut’s decline
By Chris Powell What happens when there are no consequences for misconduct? With Connecticut full of repeat criminal offenders on the loose, and with juveniles stealing cars and committing mayhem with impunity, having realized that government won’t punish them, almost anyone might have a clue about where social disintegration is coming from. But few DemocratsContinue reading “Crime without consequences hastens Connecticut’s decline”
If Trump is an appeaser, Himes is a warmonger
By Chris Powell According to Connecticut U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat, former President Donald Trump, a Republican, is guilty of “appeasement” because of his skepticism about the war between Ukraine and Russia. Himes says Trump is skeptical of the war “because he got impeached over Ukraine” and is more of an appeaser of RussianContinue reading “If Trump is an appeaser, Himes is a warmonger”
A grossly premature parole; and teachers aren’t underpaid
By Chris Powell Next time the governor and state legislators boast about the decline in Connecticut’s prison population, remember the recent report in the Hearst Connecticut newspapers about the state Board of Pardons and Paroles. By a vote of 2-1 after a hearing in January, the board approved parole for a Bridgeport man who hadContinue reading “A grossly premature parole; and teachers aren’t underpaid”
The parade of dependence slogs through the state Capitol
By Chris Powell Hearings of General Assembly committees long have been largely matters of special pleading, but increasingly they are the setting for an endless parade of people, most of them able-bodied, who say they are unable to take care of themselves and their families and need more subsidies from state government — for medicalContinue reading “The parade of dependence slogs through the state Capitol”
Must Connecticut be as crazy as Alabama?
By Chris Powell Where is it written that the crazier Alabama, Texas, or Idaho get, the crazier Connecticut must get too? But that seems to be the premise of the leftist faction of the Democratic majority in the General Assembly when it comes to abortion. Alabama lately became famous for the Bible-thumping decision of itsContinue reading “Must Connecticut be as crazy as Alabama?”
Chris Powell column 