Author Archives: cxpowell

By CHRIS POWELL Elected officials long have been telling Connecticut that its schools are the best in the country. But they seldom produce evidence for the claim, maybe because the most that can be produced is that the grade-level proficiency of Connecticut’s students is not falling quite as fast as that of students in otherContinue reading “Brutal candor, not complicity needed from state’s schools”

By CHRIS POWELL Governor Lamont beat up the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system pretty good the other day, but not good enough. The college system’s president, Terrence Cheng, had called a press conference, ordered other system executives to join him, and then denounced the governor’s proposed budget for the system, contending that it isContinue reading “Does the governor remember he appointed college board?”

By Chris Powell While they quickly approved bonuses for state government employees the other day, Governor Lamont and the General Assembly may require much more time to decide whether and how to finance the “baby bonds” program that was enacted two years ago. The program would have the state treasurer invest $3,200 of state governmentContinue reading “‘Baby bonds’ are another way of rationalizing child neglect”

By Chris Powell Nearly everyone in Connecticut knows that the first rule of employment with state government is that no one can be fired. State government itself should know this most of all. Nearly everyone in Connecticut also knows that the state and federal constitutions confer freedom of expression to people in their personal lives.Continue reading “State can’t terminate anyone so finish the arbitration first”

By Chris Powell Connecticut state legislators don’t want to know — or don’t want to be seen to know — that public education has been collapsing for many years. They don’t want to know that poverty policy is creating as much poverty as it alleviates. They don’t want to know that awarding lucrative licenses for casinosContinue reading “Legislators think it’s better to overlook rape of children”

By Chris Powell Chicago has just thrown out an incompetent, arrogant, and far-left Democratic mayor who presided over an explosion of crime and the collapse of the city’s schools, only to elect a mayor pledged to even more extreme leftism with higher taxes and lower educational standards. The new mayor is a former lobbyist forContinue reading “Chicago has learned nothing; will Connecticut ever learn?”

By Chris Powell While former President Donald Trump long has been mainly a grifter, his indictment by the district attorney for Manhattan is not justified by the cant coming from Democrats in Connecticut and around the country: the cant that “no one is above the law.” To the contrary, criminal prosecution is almost always largelyContinue reading “‘No one is above the law’ is a lie; someone always is”

By Chris Powell What’s the big deal about the federal debt ceiling? The controversy in Washington suggests that the federal government won’t be able to spend as much money if it can’t keep borrowing to do so. That’s nonsense. Quite without incurring more debt the federal government has plenty of access to money. For theContinue reading “Living on our own earnings is the real threat of the debt ceiling”

By Chris Powell By now nearly everyone who pays attention to Connecticut news knows of the state legislator who last year stood up to speak at the Capitol when she was drunk and lapsed into incoherence and who, a few weeks ago, was driving drunk when she crashed her car nearby. The legislator has becomeContinue reading “Legislator’s drinking problem isn’t state’s biggest scandal”

By Chris Powell Wokeness, the new model of political correctness reigning supreme in Connecticut, holds that all racial disproportions are caused by “structural racism” and must be eliminated by policy that awards favoritism by race. State traffic stop data has shown that Black and Hispanic motorists are stopped somewhat more often than would be suggestedContinue reading “Faulty presumption of racism may nullify rules for driving”