“This agenda remains focused on what will make us stronger, with practical and people-centered solutions. I look forward to working with Hoosiers, lawmakers and other stakeholders as we team up to achieve these priorities.” — Gov. Eric Holcomb explaining the strategy behind his “Next Level” economic-development program for 2019 ERIC HOLCOMB IS A NICE MAN, maybe a good man, and, for all anyone can tell given the quality of statehouse reporting, a competent public official.…

by Leo Morris This will be on the honor system, so tell the truth. Let’s have a show of hands from all those who’ve heard of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. OK, looks like a lot of you, a solid majority, in fact. Now, how many of you have heard of the explosion of the SS Sultana? Anyone? Still waiting. Oh, there it is, one hand raised in Muncie. Such are the whims of…

by Mark Franke Benjamin Carter Hett. The Death of Democracy: Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic. (Henry Holt and Company, 2018). The most fascinating book I read in high school was William L. Shirer’s “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany.” I chose it due to my awakening love for military history but I was most affected by Shirer’s story-telling of how the Nazis…

“We should call out hypocrisy when we see it. For a party that associates itself with Christianity to say that it is OK to suggest that God would smile on the division of families at the hands of federal agents, that God would condone putting children in cages has lost all claim to ever use religious language again.” — Peter Buttigieg, the Washington Times, June 28, 2019 by Craig Ladwig “Hypocrisy” — it’s been a…

by Leo Morris Nobody likes a heretic. They have always been shunned and always will be. That is simple human nature, which is immutable, no matter what social or cultural upheavals it must navigate. The group is our sanctuary, and the barbarian at the gate must be repelled. It can sometimes be tricky to clearly define the group and correctly identify the dissident threat, but the dynamic is timeless and universal. For example, where do…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. The Professor and the Madman is Simon Winchester’s 1998 account of the world’s most impressive dictionary, the Oxford English Dictionary (the OED). Winchester details its origins and development, focusing on its chief editor (Professor James Murray) and one of its chief contributors who was a “madman” (Dr. William Minor). Mel Gibson bought the movie rights immediately and it was released last month with Gibson playing the part of Murray and Sean…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. The year is 1943. America has entered World War II in full force and Germany is on the defensive. In the minds of many, the war was all but won. But what would we do with the victory? “In The Year of our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis,” Alan Jacobs describes the work of five prominent Christian thinkers: Jacques Maritain, Simone Weil, T.S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis and…

A CHART BY the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette in a June 18 editorial confuses Indiana’s gun-crime statistics. The editorial, “Threat of Inaction: Weekend Shootings Drive Home Urgency,” attempts to support the gun-control position of past Fort Wayne Mayor Paul Helmke, formerly director of the Brady Center/Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington, D.C., now at Indiana University. “Failure to debate and discuss [gun-control] proposals that have been suggested means that those candidates and officials…

by Leo Morris My reaction might not have been typical. I saw that photo of employees turning their backs on Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and did not immediately decry the insolent rudeness of federal bureaucrats. I felt sorry for them. I was thinking about cats. Many people – dog owners, typically – incorrectly assume that when cats turn their backs to their owners, they are proclaiming their independence with a show of aloof indifference. But…

OK, ERIC HOLCOMB is not my type of governor for a dozen reasons, none of which is particularly fair or kind. My criticism, therefore, can be dismissed as heckling. That said, and absent serious statewide media, someone must point out how out of touch this man is. Does he have any clue what working-class Hoosierdom cares about? I submit for your review an example to the negative. It is rare to find a government program…