Author Archives: cxpowell

Shall I join with other nations in alliance? If allies are weak, am I not best alone? If allies are strong with power to protect me, Might they not protect me out of all I own? — “A Puzzlement” from “The King and I,” Rodgers and Hammerstein. * * * By CHRIS POWELL Regarding foreignContinue reading “We won’t fight for Ukraine and so might as well make a deal”

By Chris Powell What has Connecticut gotten for the 33 years of litigation in the Hartford school integration case of Sheff v. O’Neill, which purportedly ended last week with a settlement between the plaintiffs and state government? The first result of the Sheff business is a mockery of state constitutional law and the courts themselves.Continue reading “Sheff case ends, mocking the law and gaining little integration”

By Chris Powell Maybe with an eye to the public’s growing skepticism of rule by decree as his re-election campaign begins, Governor Lamont has asked the General Assembly to maintain a nominal state of emergency about the virus epidemic while allowing his emergency powers to expire Feb. 15. Lamont’s request confused many legislators at first,Continue reading “So long, emergency powers; and is Bysiewicz libertarian now?”

By Chris Powell Maybe the best measure of Bob Stefanowski’s vast improvement as a candidate for governor is how quickly he scared Democratic leaders and left-leaning observers into attacking him upon his formal announcement last week that wants a rematch with Governor Lamont. Though Stefanowski still has to win the Republican nomination, for which heContinue reading “Well-prepared Stefanowski quickly scares Democrats”

By Chris Powell Another spectacular embarrassment for the University of Connecticut, and thus for the state itself, exploded last week — the $11 million wrongful termination award for former men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie. It was compounded because there is no one really in charge at the university these days. University President Thomas Katsouleas resignedContinue reading “Working at UConn is great but getting fired is better”

By Chris Powell Having supported the futile U.S. war in Afghanistan throughout their congressional careers, helping to flush $2 trillion down the toilet of that primitive and ungovernable land, Connecticut U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy this week flew off to Ukraine in the hope of getting their country into a war with RussiaContinue reading “Blumenthal and Murphy pursue a war to replace Afghanistan”

By Chris Powell Despite its two years of painstaking effort, Connecticut’s Police Transparency and Accountability Task Force last week recommended little to increase transparency and accountability in police work. The task force proposes some good things: standardizing police policies and record keeping and requiring policies and department censuses to be posted on the internet, asContinue reading “Police transparency study is evasive and even nutty”

By Chris Powell Governor Lamont and state Attorney General William Tong, both Democrats, are pressing in federal court to restore a lucrative tax break for the rich. But somehow they are escaping criticism from those in their party who clamor for taxing the rich more. The governor and attorney general have asked the U.S. SupremeContinue reading “Connecticut Democrats prize a huge tax break for the rich”

By Chris Powell Teachers and nurses in Connecticut who are government employees, along with employees of nursing homes, whose industry is mostly funded by government, are feeling so overworked because of the virus epidemic that their allegiance to Governor Lamont and the Democratic Party is coming into question. Surveying leaders of the teachers and nursesContinue reading “On whom will Connecticut’s epidemic resentments fall?”

By Chris Powell Bribing people with their own money is a standard technique of politics, and with a state election coming up, Connecticut’s Democratic and Republican leaders are already at it. Governor Lamont, who will be nominated by the Democrats for a second term, says he is likely to propose increasing the property tax creditContinue reading “Tax cuts will achieve little without spending cuts too”