Author Archives: cxpowell

By Chris Powell As a practical matter “critical race theory” may be little more than the assertion that nearly everybody and everything is racist and that anyone who doesn’t comply with the demands of its advocates is even more racist. Whatever “critical race theory” is, it does not seem to be formally taught in schoolsContinue reading “Injection of race in schools deserves to be challenged”

By Chris Powell Two decades ago government corruption in Connecticut was a spectacularly Republican phenomenon. First state Treasurer Paul Silvester, appointed by Gov. John G. Rowland to fill a vacancy, was caught taking bribes for awarding pension fund management contracts. Silvester and nine others were convicted on federal charges and Silvester went to prison. ThenContinue reading “Corruption in Connecticut switches political parties”

By Chris Powell Writing last week in Connecticut’s Hearst newspapers, state Rep. Christine Palm, D-Chester, argued that raising gasoline prices by what she estimates as 5 cents per gallon under the Transportation Climate Initiative advocated by Governor Lamont would be no big deal, because people just shrug off rising gas prices. Yes, gas price increasesContinue reading “Imposing hardship is the point of another hidden gas tax for Connecticut”

By Chris Powell More complaining about Alden Global Capital’s dismemberment of the storied newspapers it recently acquired from the Tribune chain appeared this month in a long and — to journalists, anyway -– infuriating essay in The Atlantic magazine by its reporter McKay Coppins. This dismemberment, Coppins noted, includes the Chicago Tribune’s former headquarters, theContinue reading “So why did no one outbid Alden for the Tribune papers?”

By Chris Powell Success in politics is often believed to require making a lot of noise purporting to address issues without really doing anything about them, since doing anything might upset people invested in the status quo. Introducing their juvenile crime proposals last week, the state Senate’s Republican minority followed this formula. The juvenile crimeContinue reading “Republican state senators leave juvenile court unaccountable”

By Chris Powell You’d never know it from the constant clamor by Connecticut’s news organizations and politicians about “domestic violence,” but the wisdom of the ages may still apply insofar as two people can keep living as cheaply as one — at least if they can stand each other. Not all married people in ConnecticutContinue reading “Despite Connecticut’s news, people do better married”

By Chris Powell Connecticut was pretty normal this week. The cities again were full of shootings and other mayhem. Group home workers went on strike because, while they take care of people who are essentially wards of the state, their own compensation omits medical insurance. Hundreds of health care workers were suspended for refusing toContinue reading “Intemperate Facebook post dispels Connecticut’s real problems”

By Chris Powell Rallies around the country and Connecticut this month supporting abortion rights and opposing the new anti-abortion law in Texas were full of bluster and slogans but offered little sound argument. Foremost among the slogans was “My body, my choice,” but no one seemed to notice the far larger violation of that principleContinue reading “Slogans supplant arguments at rallies for abortion rights”

By Chris Powell Nearly everyone on Planet Earth with internet access seems to use the social-media platform Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram even as last week’s U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing over which Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal presided suggested that Facebook is an evil scheme to push young teenage girls into bulimia and other psychological disorders. FacebookContinue reading “Blumenthal discovers a cure for teenage bulimia: censorship”

By Chris Powell For decades the state’s intelligentsia has lamented that there are “two Connecticuts,” a prosperous one in the suburbs and a poor one being oppressed in the cities — oppressed by disparities in property tax rates; by state government’s not spending enough on education and welfare programs, though such spending long has beenContinue reading “‘Two Connecticuts’ lament misdiagnoses the problem”