Author Archives: cxpowell

By Chris Powell Until a few days ago television stations in Connecticut were broadcasting a commercial showing a Black woman who says she is a doctor and wants to persuade “people who look like me” that COVID-19 vaccine is safe, adding emphatically, “because it is.” Or does the woman just play a doctor on TV?Continue reading “TV commercial’s dishonesty sabotages vaccine campaign in Connecticut”

By Chris Powell For the sake of democracy, comity, equality of opportunity, and prosperity, Connecticut, like the rest of the country, needs integration — racial, economic class, and ethnic. Exclusive zoning in the suburbs long has hampered that, and it’s getting worse as housing prices are soaring. But advocates of the anti-zoning legislation in theContinue reading “Violence and depravity in cities sustain exclusive zoning”

By Chris Powell Nearly everyone except government employees has suffered financial losses during the virus epidemic, and since those losses were caused more by government’s closure of much of the economy than by the epidemic itself, everyone wants reimbursement from the government. There’s some justice in this, especially in the requests from businesses in ConnecticutContinue reading “Eventually we’ll all be paying; and young car thieves just laugh”

By Chris Powell Connecticut’s Constitution, in its Declaration of Rights, commands: “All courts shall be open.” So what has happened to the case of Hector R. Cruz? Cruz was 16 when, according to the charge against him — first-degree sexual assault, a felony — he raped a child in Glastonbury in December 2019. The chargeContinue reading “Where did that rape case go? And propagandizing vaccines”

By Chris Powell Many liberal Democratic officials around the country and especially in the Northeast, including Governor Lamont, are looking hypocritical for urging President Biden to help repeal the federal government’s limit on the deductibility of state and local taxes — the “SALT” tax deduction cap. Liberal Democrats usually advocate more progressive taxation — thatContinue reading “Lamont probably won’t mind denunciation as a moderate on taxes”

By Chris Powell Despite the criminal prosecution underway in Minneapolis for the wrongful death of George Floyd, police officers are far more sinned against than sinning and are crucial to decent society. So claims that a flag displayed to support them is racist are ridiculous. The flag in question, the “thin blue line” flag, isContinue reading “Show support for the police without ‘thin blue line’ flag”

By Chris Powell While Governor Lamont’s office has conscientiously produced detailed virus-epidemic data every weekday for a year now — a triumph of organization and persistence — his administration and news organizations have made too much of it and the governor himself is gently backing away from it. The daily data has included three mainContinue reading “Government and journalism made virus epidemic scarier”

By Chris Powell Connecticut’s lawns are turning green again. Robins are scouring them for worms, which are returning to the surface despite the high taxes and accusations of racism above ground. Redwings are trilling madly over the ponds, brooks, and marshes. Daffodils and crocuses are in bloom. Leaf buds on the trees are swelling. ManyContinue reading “Glorious spring proclaims: Try to restore Connecticut”

By Chris Powell Just as Hillary Clinton and the sleaziest elements of the Democratic Party gave the country Donald Trump, Trump and the sleaziest elements of the Republican Party now have given the country Joe Biden. Also a gift of Trump is the press that has fawned over Biden even as he stumbled up theContinue reading “Biden’s cognitive decline, Murphy’s crocodile tears”

By Chris Powell Participating in a legislative hearing on housing discrimination last week, state Rep. Michael Winkler, D-Vernon, may not have known (along with most of his constituents) a couple of disgraceful aspects of United States history: the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the internment of U.S. citizens of Japanese descent during World WarContinue reading “Winkler isn’t a Klansman and Tong is hardly a victim”