Author Archives: cxpowell

By Chris Powell How, some readers ask, can this column, written by a mere layman, assert that the COVID-19 vaccines aren’t very effective? First, it’s because the COVID-19 vaccines are not really vaccines at all as vaccines were defined prior to the current epidemic. That is, vaccines previously were defined by the U.S. Centers forContinue reading “Vaccine definition was changed as COVID-19 shots weakened”

By Chris Powell Connecticut occasionally sees state Treasurer Shawn T. Wooden touting state government’s college savings program in television commercials with two young actors impersonating his sons. Since the commercials are financed by a contractor that helps run the program for the treasurer’s office, this is essentially public money. As the commercials portray Wooden asContinue reading “Treasurer’s ads should have exposed the ripoff he runs”

By Chris Powell For months the prevailing view about the forthcoming election for governor has been that Governor Lamont’s handling of the virus epidemic in Connecticut would be a big advantage for him, since the state was getting along better than other states and, in exercising emergency powers, Lamont has been less imperious than otherContinue reading “Epidemic might not benefit governor politically anymore”

By Chris Powell Governor Lamont could have found worse things to do with the $75 million in federal emergency aid he ordered distributed last week as a bonus to poor households receiving the state’s earned income tax credit. On average those households probably have suffered more financially from the long virus epidemic, since many ofContinue reading “Much better ways to spend epidemic emergency money”

By Chris Powell Connecticut doesn’t audit the performance of any of its major and expensive state government policies — not education, not welfare, not urban — but now would be a pretty good time for state government to audit its response to the virus epidemic. For the epidemic has consumed nearly two years of stateContinue reading “Amid more infections than ever, do Connecticut’s epidemic policies work?”

By Chris Powell From Connecticut and Washington last week came more strong signs that higher education isn’t worth the expense to many students. The Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system announced that it had just awarded another $3.6 million to 2,400 community college students to help them cover the cost of attendance, which was definedContinue reading “Devaluing public education has become Connecticut’s policy”

By Chris Powell Poor New Haven. Its police department has been unable to make arrests in 35 of the 45 murders committed in the city in the last two years, a failure rate of 78%. Despite $111 million in federal emergency assistance, New Haven’s school system is running a deficit again, constantly losing teachers toContinue reading “Mask police in New Haven don’t bother with murders”

By Chris Powell For several years now the “woke” Democratic majority in the General Assembly has been striving to erase many criminal convictions, either by statute or by facilitating pardons. This has been done on the mistaken premise that criminal records are the main impediments to former offenders as they seek to regain employment andContinue reading “Pardon puts cop back on beat; and teacher pension inequity”

By Chris Powell Don’t call it a “vaccine passport,” Governor Lamont says. What the state Public Health Department has started providing Connecticut residents is a “digital vaccination card” that uses a state government database to affirm the holder’s inoculation for Covid 19. Everything about it will be voluntary. No one will be required to obtainContinue reading “Local option during epidemic suits election-year politics”

By Chris Powell Revolutionaries throughout history sometimes have adopted a policy of “no enemies on the left,” figuring that, once in power, they could purge (or murder) those in their coalition who were not leftist enough. Maybe that’s how the Connecticut People’s World Committee, part of the state’s Communist Party, and Democratic U.S. Sen. RichardContinue reading “Blumenthal helps celebrate America’s Communist Party”