Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

Historian Arthur Schlesinger, the unofficial poet laureate of the John. F. Kennedy administration, used to say, rightly, that anti-Catholicism is the oldest prejudice in the United States. It was brought to these shores in the Mayflower and has persisted underground ever since. Not only is it an old and moss grown prejudice -- shelved, some wrongly think, by Kennedy’s election to the presidency – it is insidiously wrong-headed. One wonders if Assistant Principal Jeremy Boland of Cos Cob Elementary School, as toney and modish as Greenwich, but less elite, presents such lessons to his students. Wonder no more. A Washington D.C. based investigative reporter for Project Veritas has upturned the rock. Cos Cob students might know that the notorious  Klu Klux Klan  was every bit as anti-Catholic as it was anti-Black if only its school personnel, hired or not by Boland, were less -- shall we say it? – anti-Catholic. The interview with pro-woke Boland is brought to us courtesy...

Chris Powell The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread ― Anatole France Driving around Connecticut’s suburban back roads, one sees, every so often, a sign flashing under leafy shade trees: “Drive like your kid lives here.” Were it possible to plant a similar sign in large Connecticut cities, where failing schools are winked at by always solicitous politicians, it might read “Educate these kids like they were yours.” It may be time to bring out of the closet Chris Powell’s luminous perceptions concerning the connection of failing urban families and failing urban education. But, of course, in urban areas of Connecticut, one finds boxes in boxes in boxes of chronic problems, many of them connected to one foul root. Powell, now retired, was the long-time Mangaging Editor of the Journal Inquirer. He continues to write colunms for the JI and other papers.  It has been 57 years since D...

Biden CNN "What we’re seeing now is the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy. It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the — I’m going to say something, it’s like semi-fascism" -- Biden fishing for dollars and votes in Maryland. At this point in our political process, no one need fear that former President Donald Trump will be running for President in 2024, because Trump has not announced unambiguously that he has tossed his hat into the presidential ring. Likewise, no one need fear that current President Joe Biden will be on the ticket in 2024 because, like Trump who favors ambiguity – not to mention excessive hyperbole – Biden has not yet formally thrown his hat into the presidential ring. Fears of these kinds are premature. However, like good boy scouts, one must be prepared for all eventualities. A large portion of political reporting in the United States is devoted to raw speculation concering political races that have no...

We are told by a Hartford paper that energy prices are on the upswing – again: “ Energy prices are rising again. Here’s what to expect in another costly winter heating season .” The more unpleasant part of news reporting, we all know, is laying before temperamental readers the bitter truths that lie directly under their noses. George Orwell tells us that the most difficult chore for any writer is to “see the thing that lies right under his nose.” Familiarity, along with the usual campaign season propaganda, breeds blindness. Not all energy news can be cheery. Winter is coming, dragging along in its snowy train high and perhaps unaffordable energy prices. To understand why energy prices are on the uptick – and have been ever since President Donald Trump grudgingly turned over to his Democrat opponent, current President Joe Biden, the reigns of office – the anxious reader must know something about the implacable law of supply and demand. When the supply of a commodity cannot ...

James Calender Mr. Pesci, I am interested in exploring with you an answer to the question: How have changes in news reporting affected political campaigning? You say that in forty years of reporting on campaigns you have never endorsed a candidate. I can’t imagine why. Everybody these days seems to do it, and not always in editorial pages. The editorial page in some printed papers, you tell us, has been shown the door. While we were recovering from this shock, you tell us that printed copy may be out the door, along with newspaper stands and, of course, paperboys and papergirls. Thank you in advance, A Reader Mr. Reader, None of this is shocking. The price of a daily newspaper here in Connecticut is running about $4.00. Add 50 cents to the price for weekend papers. The print media is putting itself out of business. Paywalls are everywhere, and the political internet is no longer free. Very few papers print on site these days. No doubt, part of the increased cost of a daily ...

Stefanowski Facebook -- Bob and Company The news that   Liz Kurantowitz had left Bob Stefanowski’s gubernatorial campaign was broken by Stefanowski, who announced in a press release, “Stefanowski campaign announces departure of senior advisor Liz Kurantowitz citing strategic differences.” CTMirror’s Capitol Bureau Chief Mark Pazniokas   noted in a twitter feed, “Seldom a good sign to see your campaign manager, then your senior strategist and only press contact, depart in August.” The news release flushed left of center birds from Connecticut’s media brush. State Capitol news reporter for the Associated Press  Susan Haigh , at one time a Hartford Courant reporter, rang up former Connecticut U.S. Representative Chris Shays, now living out of state, along with many other Connecticut expats. Shays was the last man standing in Connecticut’s once bipartisan U.S. Congressional Delegation. Three Republicans – Nancy Johnson, Rob Simmons and Chris Shays – all fiscal conserv...

Some Republican radio commentators in Connecticut’s media community think the Connecticut GOP has a chance during the upcoming off-year elections to make some advances. Naturally, postmodern progressives, supporters of the status quo , disagree. The contrarian radio commentator community in the state, which tends to be right of center in its political orientation, does not have the same reach as the state’s legacy media and the majority of college professors in Connecticut who think former President Donald Trump is the Devil incarnate. Once you swallow that proposition, you are more or less obliged to hold all Republicans responsible for Trump’s devilish behavior. Generally, the state’s media leans to the left because news is produced by current office holders, the majority of whom are postmodern progressives. The state’s media leans to the left to accommodate the ruling power. Republican politicians in the state might be encouraged if, reading between the lines of news reports, th...

Garland and patron The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raid on Mar-a-Lago, the private residence of former President Donald Trump, was considerably more organized than the much investigated riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 8, 2021. Hours after the Mar-a-Lago raid, Attorney General Merritt Garland , nominated by former President Barack Obama to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, seemed to disclaim knowledge of the raid. Following splashy news reports, Garland thought better of his denial and on August 11, according to the New York Post, acknowledged “that he ‘personally approved‘ the search warrant request for documents that triggered Monday’s unprecedented FBI raid on the Florida home of former President Donald Trump.” It is generally acknowledged that the historic and unorthodox police raid, the first-of-a-kind raid of a president’s home in U.S. history, had been carefully preplanned.   Garland said, before he quickly scooted out of r...

  For Connecticut republicans – note the lower case, as indicating Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliateds who share a common affection for our constitutional republic -- the way forward is through the fire. Past Chairman of the Republican Party Chis Healy put the matter boldly when he wrote on his blog, Make Blue Red , “The Democrats shut down our country, closed our schools, closed our churches, allowed state and federal employees to work for home and gave them bonus pay. If that wasn’t enough, Biden policies put others on a steady drip of payments and turned federal law enforcement loose on businesses, parents and others who protested these policies. The Biden administration even allowed the Department of Justice to investigate parents who spoke up at Board of Education meetings, again, without a word of protest from Sen. Blumenthal. What do you think will happen if they are allowed to continue in power? “Democrats will talk about abortion, Trump, climate change, and Januar...

Blumenthal No one should be too surprised that newcomer to political campaigning Leora Levy gained the Republican Party primary vote to run against U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal. Levy won the contest by a comfortable margin – 50.5 % to Themis Klarides’ 40.1%. The question of the moment, post-primary, is: What are Levy’s chances of unhorsing Blumenthal? Dick Morris, the campaign manager of Bill Clinton's successful 1996 bid for re-election as President, endorsed Levy’s campaign on select radio stations a few days before former President Donald Trump formally endorsed her candidacy at a Republican Town Committee gathering in Montville on August 5 th , four days before Republicans were due to vote in primary elections. Both endorsements may have come too close to primary voting to sway many people, but there is little doubt the endorsements solidified support among Trump loyalists in the state. The heartiest of Trump loyalists are not put off by his unorthodox campaign style – ro...

U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal decided to wait until the mid-term election had passed before weighing in on the delicate question “Should President Joe Biden run for a second term in office?” In most national polls, Biden’s approval numbers were headed for the cellar, where Biden had launched his political campaign for president in April of 2019. Incumbent Democrats so far have refrained from sharply criticizing the titular national head of their party. Blumenthal, conscious that he is sitting on the sharp edges of a two edged sword, masterfully dogged the question. CNN Dana Banks to Blumenthal: President Biden says that he intends to run for re-election in 2024. You’ve heard there’s not exactly unanimity  in your party, that people like  Chairwoman  Caroline Maloney said that she doesn’t think he will run.  Congressman Dean Phillips says he doesn’t want him to run. Do you think Biden is the best candidate in 2024? In answer to the simplest of questions, Blumenthal im...

Kant If you are a member of the legislature, state or federal, you will have discovered by now that there are inestimable benefits of introducing bills that cannot pass, the most important of which is that dead bills leave in their wake no appreciable consequences. But dead-on-arrival bills have a useful after-life as campaign fodder. They can be used for boosting a candidate’s bona fides among narrow intersectional groups of possible voters from whom intersectional politicians hope to raise campaign cash. In a bipartisan legislature – Connecticut has not had one for 30 years or more – dead-on-arrival bills usually originate in the House and are killed in the Senate. Of the two bodies, the Senate is often regarded as the more responsible body, brimming with realpolitikers whose eyes are sharply focused on the consequences, intended and unintended, cultural or economic, of proposed legislation. Kant , we are told, “… is a deontologist; from the Greek, [which refers to] the scienc...

Customer at a grocery store : These prices are outrageous. Service personnel : Well, yes – for us too. Our suppliers are charging us more, so we pass along some increased costs to people like you. But you should know that the percentage of cost increases in this store is less than the increased costs of the wholesale goods we purchase. Customer : That means nothing to me. All I know is – my income is fixed. I’m paying through the nose, and I can’t afford it. SP : Sorry about that. ___________________   Sticker on a gas pump in northern Connecticut : “I did that,” accompanied with a picture of President Joe Biden, cleverly concealed on the tank where the pump spout is inserted. “‘I just know everything he’s been doing since he took office has been going downhill. Bring Trump back,’ said Harold Frost , 29, of the Upper West Side ( New York City ). ‘My car has been parked the whole week because of this [ high ...