Category Archives: Uncategorized

By Chris Powell While bullets flew and people fell all around Hartford, some within sight of the state Capitol dome, the General Assembly deliberated its state budget legislation and then, as part of the budget, voted to remove from the Capitol’s façade the statue of Maj. John Mason, without whom Connecticut and the rest ofContinue reading “At state Capitol, an old statue is offensive but not mayhem in nearby streets”

By Chris Powell Celebrating last week the General Assembly’s passage of legislation to legalize marijuana and put state government into the drug business, Governor Lamont condemned the “war on drugs” that was proclaimed 50 years ago by President Richard Nixon. The “war on cannabis,” the governor added, was “at its core a war on peopleContinue reading “Lamont celebrates marijuana bill with racial demagoguery”

By Chris Powell Legalizing recreational marijuana in Connecticut is off until a special session of the General Assembly this week, with House Speaker Matt Ritter, a Democrat, blaming the Republican minority for stalling passage during the regular session just concluded. The Republicans, Ritter said, planned to talk the legislation to death in the session’s lastContinue reading “Legalizing marijuana is easy; what’s hard is the patronage”

By Chris Powell Some small good things were done by the session of the General Assembly just concluded, but the best things about the session may have been what it didn’t do. That is, it did not raise taxes much — mainly on heavy trucks — and thus did not disadvantage Connecticut more relative toContinue reading “That ‘transformational’ budget won’t change much at all”

By Chris Powell Misconceived when it began 20 years ago, the American expedition to Afghanistan is being misunderstood as it comes to its predictable end in failure and the benighted country returns to the theocratic fascism of the Taliban. The transition will be horrible, and Americans should be outraged — first of all at themselves.Continue reading “If Afghans want freedom, they’ll have to fight for it”

By Chris Powell Now that the General Assembly, without any research, just a lot of pious posturing, has passed legislation declaring that racism is the cause of the health disparities between the races in Connecticut, legislators should look at what has been happening right under their noses for months. When the campaign to vaccinate peopleContinue reading “Connecticut’s vaccination history disproves race mongering”

By Chris Powell While the General Assembly has never been known for political courage, the racial obsession that lately has been taking over there should have prompted some legislators to talk back to it by now. For it has gotten ridiculous — and dangerous. The much-touted legislation declaring racism rather than poverty to be aContinue reading “Connecticut has too much ‘cultural humility’ already”

By Chris Powell Maybe last year’s presidential election wasn’t stolen, but it raised fair questions about the integrity of voting procedures, and this may have given Connecticut Democrats hints about making election fraud easier here. The Democratic scheme is included in legislation proposed by Secretary of the State Denise Merrill and being hustled through theContinue reading “Don’t hide voter database; and lock up chronic criminals”

By Chris Powell Nearly everyone wanted Tribune Publishing Co. to be purchased by someone other than Alden Global Capital, since the hedge fund is seen as an “asset stripper.” Indeed, months before acquiring the shares of Tribune it didn’t already own, Alden had managed the neat trick of stripping the Hartford Courant of its ownContinue reading “Is that infamous hedge fund stripping or saving newspapers?”

By Chris Powell Congratulations may be in order for the University of Connecticut’s Board of Trustees for discovering, upon the abrupt resignation of Thomas C. Katsouleas after less than two years on the job, that the university doesn’t really need its own president. For last week the board announced that Andrew Agwunobi, chief executive ofContinue reading “Can UConn really economize? And social promotion wins again”