Category: Indiana Writers Group

“Weekend violence in Indy sent residents and visitors scrambling for cover in Broad Ripple and Downtown. At least six were shot with one killed in five separate shootings in just two hours. City Officials remained silent and were missing in action all weekend.” — Rick Snyder, Fraternal Order of Police A FRIEND surprised us this weekend by announcing his support…

by Leo Morris For those who haven’t been keeping up with the Congressional Clown Car, a quick update: Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi created a special committee to investigate the Jan. 6 – take your pick – mostly peaceful protest/riot/insurrection. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy appointed five Republicans to the 12-member committee, including Jim Banks…

THIS COLUMN is dedicated to Indiana issues. That’s why I’m writing about South Africa and Botswana. It is important for Hoosiers to be reminded of the tragedy of failed economic leadership, reminded without the distraction of competing racial and political identities. For South Africa is falling apart, and doing so all on its own, long past the point…

As I sink deeper and deeper into my dotage, I try to husband what brain cells are still functional for what matters most. That means being discriminatory about what I allow inside my cranium. To start, I pay no attention to popular culture. I absolutely refuse to watch movies or I don’t listen to music…

by Leo Morris I so want to be a good Hoosier, an upstanding citizen who will do the right thing. But Indiana officials are set to give me some money, and I’m terrified that I will squander it on frivolities and let my beloved state down. Well, not “give” me money exactly. So that I…

by Leo Morris Thank you, Simone Biles, for pulling me out of the funk I’d talked myself into over sports. On my best days I am ambivalent about athletes. I respect their prowess but resent them for my own physical shortcomings. I admire them for the loyalty they inspire among fans but hate the shallowness…

“A Raytheon toolkit instructs employees to oppose ‘equality,’ defined as ‘treating each person the same . . . regardless of their differences,’ and strive instead for ‘equity,’ which ‘focuses on the equality of the outcome.’ The company claims that the colorblind standard of ‘equal treatment and access to opportunities’ is not enough; ‘anti-racist’ policies must sometimes utilize…

by Mark Franke Having passed three patriotic observances — Memorial Day, Flag Day and Independence Day — provides an opportune moment to reflect on the status of patriotism here in the land of the free and the home of the brave. What is its status? That depends on whom you ask, where you look and…

ONE OF THE great things about our form of democracy, perhaps the greatest thing, is that when we find ourselves with inept rulers nobody mounts a revolution and organizes a firing squad. At worst, the rascal is nudged out of office into a six-digit pension. That thought occurred as Gov. Eric Holcomb’s pre-Covid decision to lead a trade mission…

by Mark Franke It is much too easy to overthink things. If this were an Olympic sport, I would be competing on national TV every four years. Libertarianism is one such overthink for me. Over the past 50 years libertarianism and I have lived through an on again, off again relationship. It first seduced me…