by Leo Morris A criminal whose guilt is obvious gets off on a technicality, and the great debate begins. You’ve undoubtedly heard it, in real life on the news or in detective fiction in print or on the screen. Lock the criminal away despite the technicality, says one side. It’s a perversion of justice to let the guilty escape punishment just because police didn’t dot every “i” and cross every “t” in pursuit of, say,…

by Jason Arp When I was a kid in the late 1970s, we had one telephone in our house. It was a drab green color and had a very long chord to allot the user some freedom to roam into the living room or dining room if they were adventurous. We could only talk to grandparents a state away for just a few seconds because the call was so expensive for a blue-collar family. Our aunt in Montana got to…

by Mark Franke I have given up all hope of returning to the day of e pluribus unum. I certainly don’t expect anyone in Washington D.C. or the New York City media center to repent of their divisive ways and take on this noble cause. So what? They don’t dictate how I live my life or the way I interact with other people. Let them continue to be mired in Donald Trump’s undrained swamp, rewriting history to…

Testing the Boundaries of ‘Extremism’ “Our mission is to marshal the best thought on governmental, economic and educational issues at the state and municipal levels.” — the Indiana Policy Review Foundation A COLUMNIST at the Indianapolis Star is said to have privately described members of our foundation as “extremists.” Fair enough. In our 33 years we have never quarreled with how others might label us.  That said, a review of the Gannett Company’s positions as expressed in editorials and…

by Leo Morris It’s an issue that has long engaged my attention: Where do we draw the line between autonomy and subjugation, between when we should be left alone and when we must be made to conform for the common good? I have strong libertarian instincts, so I have always argued for the minimum government necessary to protect us against threats to our lives and property, and that otherwise we should be free to pursue…

by John Gaski, Ph.D. So the Democrats are playing the race card against the GOP on the Senate filibuster rule, calling Republicans “racist” if they oppose the old custom’s ad hoc elimination. What a surprise. The Democrats play the race card against everyone and everything that stand in their way on any issue, no matter how hypocritical it is for them, i.e., the political group with the most racist record of any major party in American history. Recall…

by Richard McGowan, Ph.D. President Daniels: I hope the school year began well and stays that way. My friend, a proud Boilermaker, shares your missives with me, including your recent “Open Letter to the People of Purdue,” in which you lament the imbalance of men and women on campus. I taught for over 40 years in higher education. My last stop, of 24 years, was Butler University, where I was an instructor (I dropped out…

by Mark Franke The Apocalypse is at hand. And it was Covid which brought it about. No, I’m not speaking of the endless riots and protests in the major cities. Neither am I speaking of the lust for power exhibited by governmental officials at every level as they shut down businesses, schools and everything but their favorite resort spots. I’m not even referring to the cultural war that has sprung from the grassroots to demand…

by Leo Morris Everyone will have a favorite piece of legislation to root for or against this session of the Indiana General Assembly, so there is a chance some of the lesser bills will escape attention. Here are three I’ll be monitoring. House Bill 1013, which would designate the mastodon as the state fossil. Senate Bill 81, which would require the teaching of cursive writing in Indiana schools. S.B. 124, which would change the rules…

Surviving Sotomayorism  “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” — Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution SONIA SOTOMAYOR’S PATH to the Supreme Court of the United States has been marked by plenty of firsts. Sotomayor, of Puerto Rican heritage, was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to a seat on a U.S. District Court (the youngest nominee…