The Real Violence This Time

The very same people who were gnawing their nails down to the knuckles over WWE’s pretend violence during the Linda McMahon insurgency are nodding yes to a bill that will legalize “mixed martial arts” in Connecticut, according to a report in the trustworthy Hartford Courant: “A bill to legalize and regulate ‘mixed martial arts’ gained committee approval Tuesday, with only a handful of members on the Public Safety & Security Committee voting against it.”

Not everyone is as sanguine as members of Connecticut’s Public Safety & Security Committee.

Last January, Chicago women’s groups and national organizations “sent a letter to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), FOX executives, and UFC sponsors demanding the cage fighting franchise and television network immediately drop UFC light heavyweight Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson from the Saturday January 26, 2013 UFC on FOX fight for repeatedly denigrating women, including female reporters, and posting a video last year in which he makes light of sexual assault by pretending to rape a woman in a parking garage. To view the letter, click here.

And in the same month the National Center for Domestic and Sexual Violence wrote to members of the New York State Assembly urging them to reject legislation that would sanction mixed martial arts, according to Sports Ilustrated.

"We believe that the UFC contributes to a culture of violence against women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people," executive director Deborah B. Tucker wrote. "Children, in particular, should not be exposed to the homophobic, misogynistic and violent language that has been permitted by the UFC."

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The Blumenthal Burisma Connection

Steve Hilton , a Fox News commentator who over the weekend had connected some Burisma corruption dots, had this to say about Connecticut U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal’s association with the tangled knot of corruption in Ukraine: “We cross-referenced the Senate co-sponsors of Ed Markey's Ukraine gas bill with the list of Democrats whom Burisma lobbyist, David Leiter, routinely gave money to and found another one -- one of the most sanctimonious of them all, actually -- Sen. Richard Blumenthal."

Donna

I am writing this for members of my family, and for others who may be interested. My twin sister Donna died a few hours ago of stage three lung cancer. The end came quickly and somewhat unexpectedly. She was preceded in death by Lisa Pesci, my brother’s daughter, a woman of great courage who died still full of years, and my sister’s husband Craig Tobey Senior, who left her at a young age with a great gift: her accomplished son, Craig Tobey Jr. My sister was a woman of great strength, persistence and humor. To the end, she loved life and those who loved her. Her son Craig, a mere sapling when his father died, has grown up strong and straight. There is no crookedness in him. Thanks to Donna’s persistence and his own native talents, he graduated from Yale, taught school in Japan, there married Miyuki, a blessing from God. They moved to California – when that state, I may add, was yet full of opportunity – and both began to carve a living for them...

Lamont Surprised at Suit Brought Against PURA

Marissa P. Gillett, the state's chief utility regulator, watches Gov. Ned Lamont field questions about a new approach to regulation in April 2023. Credit: MARK PAZNIOKAS / CTMIRROR.ORG Concerning a suit brought by Eversource and Avangrid, Connecticut’s energy delivery agents, against Connecticut’s Public Utility Regulatory Agency (PURA), Governor Ned Lamont surprised most of the state’s political watchers by affecting surprise. “Look,” Lamont told a Hartford Courant reporter shortly after the suit was filed, “I think it is incredibly unhelpful,” Lamont said. “Everyone is getting mad at the umpires. Eversource is not getting everything they want and they are bringing suit. It was a surprise to me. Nobody notified me. I think we have to do a better job of working together.” Lamont’s claim is far less plausible than the legal claim made by Eversource and Avangrid. The contretemps between Connecticut’s energy distributors and Marissa Gillett , Gov. Ned Lamont’s ...

Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

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