Last month, the state of Arkansas, which had executed nobody since 2005, put to death Ledell Lee for the crime of murdering Debra Reese in 1993. Why now—11 years after the last execution, 24 years after the crime? Because the chemicals used for lethal injection were about to expire. Reasonable people can disagree on the […]
One of the more pernicious and insidious effects of the Donald Trump regime may well be the damage he does to language itself. Trumpian language is a thing unto itself: some manner of sophistry peppered with superlatives. It is a way of speech that defies the Reed-Kellogg sentence diagram. It is a jumble of incomplete […]
What do you do if you’re a historically unpopular new president, with a record low approval rating by 14 points, facing investigations into the way Russia helped you get elected, with the media judging your first 100 days in office as the weakest of any modern president? Why, you announce a tax cut! And in […]
Here in Indianapolis, more people attend cultural events than they do sporting events, generating a stronger economic impact.
Under the old system, unless you were the ultimate insider, Marion County voters didn’t have much say in the process.
“Intent” is often a funny thing in the Statehouse. It also is often meaningless.
No major legislative accomplishments. Plenty of fights with the judicial branch. Wild accusations and enough scandals to make me feel like I am watching the show “Scandal” rather than the real news.
For a burst of bipartisanship-budgeting to have any chance of occurring, let alone succeeding, we need a public with an appetite for change and greater financial frugality.
Occasionally, something has happened in the new Justice Department administration to give me pause.
Moving away from the passing of high schools tests in English and math and toward demonstrating college- or career-readiness through a graduation pathway gives students many options to achieve an Indiana diploma tailored to their graduation goals.
Of the 50 senators, 17 had no opponent in their last election and 22 won with at least 60 percent of the vote. In the 100-member House, 27 lawmakers were unopposed in 2016 and 57 won with at least 60 percent of the vote.
Taxpayers have already paid for the compilation and disclosure of public records.
It was a relief last month when Gov. Eric Holcomb got out his veto pen for the very first time to strike down a proposed law that would have permitted units of government to charge up to $20 an hour to produce public records.
Erin Moran died last month in southern Indiana. An early and erroneous report suggested the one-time Hollywood star’s death was the result of a heroin overdose. Her former co-star, Scott Baio, quickly condemned her behavior and that of anyone who takes drugs. He said in a radio interview, “You do drugs, you die.” It turns […]
The law requiring a gun license is supported by logic. Weapons can be dangerous and attention needs to be paid to who has them and how they are used.
I view gun laws that inhibit lawful carry as extremely dangerous. They only make innocent people who follow gun laws easy victims for those who don’t follow gun laws.
During the campaign, Donald Trump talked loudly and often about how he was going to renegotiate the United States’ “horrible trade deals,” bringing back millions of good jobs. So far, however, nothing has happened. So on Friday the White House scheduled a ceremony in which Trump would sign two new executive orders on trade. The […]
In the movie “Iron Man 2” (yes, superhero films are my guilty pleasure, so just bear with me) the villain, a rogue Russian scientist, informs the hero, Iron Man, of his theory on how easily he could be brought down: “If you could make God bleed, people will cease to believe in Him. There will […]
In 1981, philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre opened his book “After Virtue” with a passage that is now famous. Imagine if we lost the theoretical coherence of science. Imagine if we still used scientific words like neutrino and atomic weight, but had no overall framework to explain how they fit together. That’s the state of our moral […]
Gov. Eric Holcomb hosted Muslim Hoosiers at the Muslim Alliance of Indiana-organized Muslim Day at the Statehouse a few weeks ago.
