Author Archives: cxpowell

By Chris Powell Like the rest of the country, Connecticut is full of people who can’t afford their bills from hospitals. These people may have medical insurance with high deductibles or have exhausted their coverage because of chronic ailments. While nobody is going to prison for medical debt, it can impair credit records and holdContinue reading “Medical debt doesn’t vanish; and graffiti causes hysteria”

By Chris Powell As they descended toward their target 2½ miles under the North Atlantic, the five people aboard the OceanGate Expeditions submersible vessel Titan were, at least superficially, aware of the risks they were taking for a close look at the wreck of RMS Titanic. They apparently had been compelled to provide a waiverContinue reading “Wretched excess in the deep; and Ellsberg lesson endures”

By Chris Powell Democrats seem more afraid than Republicans of the potential third-party presidential ticket being contemplated by former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman’s No Labels organization. The Democrats apparently believe that people who three years ago supported their nominee, President Biden, are more susceptible to a third-party candidate than people who supported former President DonaldContinue reading “Insurgency could be formula for rescuing the Democrats”

By Chris Powell With the enthusiastic assistance of news organizations, same-sex marriage was euphemized as “marriage equality.” Now sex-change therapy is being euphemized as “gender-affirming care.” And at the National Safer Communities Summit last Friday at the University of Hartford, at which President Biden spoke, gun control was euphemized as “gun safety,” as if theContinue reading “Until poverty is eliminated, only prison stops gun crime”

By Chris Powell With about 34,000 of its residents employed in the aerospace industry, Connecticut has good reason to be represented at the Paris Air Show this week, so Governor Lamont aims to be there with a delegation of state officials and business leaders. “Our goal,” the governor says, “is to get more products thatContinue reading “Business or junket in Paris? And another bad conviction”

By Chris Powell Schools in Connecticut aren’t doing as well as they once did teaching reading, math, and the other academic basics, but they seem to be finding more time to address sexual subjects. The latest examples come from an elementary school in Granby and a middle school in Southington, where Pride Month videos wereContinue reading “Schools needn’t evoke sex to get students to behave”

By Chris Powell Connecticut should laugh at the pious assertion by the U.S. Justice Department, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, and others upon the indictment of former President Trump for misappropriating classified government documents — the assertion that no one is above the law. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith said, “We have one set ofContinue reading “Many are above the law; and another underclass day”

By Chris Powell Congratulations to state Rep. Holly Cheeseman for exploding a spectacular hypocrisy of state government arising from its long subservience to the government employee unions. Last week the state House of Representatives was debating legislation that would conceal from the public the home addresses of nearly every state and municipal government employee. ThisContinue reading “Why can’t public inspect what state gives unions?”

By Chris Powell With the adoption of a new state budget this week, cuts in the state’s personal income tax are on the way. “This is not a temporary tax cut,” Governor Lamont says. “It is designed to be sustainable for years to come.” Permanent  tax cuts? The governor was silly to suggest it. ConnecticutContinue reading “Connecticut’s new budget won’t touch top problems”

By Chris Powell Fresh out of high school this writer got a newspaper job the old-fashioned way: His parents knew somebody — Neil Ellis, a real-estate developer with an interest in public life and politics. That job wasn’t so great — smelting lead in a furnace and moulding it into bars for linotype machines —Continue reading “The owner who made sure his newspaper was never scared”