A Mamdani for Indianapolis DIFFERENTATION is not allowed in the corporate newsroom. That is, all individuals and groups are to be treated equal in their motivation and character (except conservatives, who are racist and evil). This softens intra-office relationships but makes predicting the twists and turns of politics difficult.  So it is unsurprising that nobody is asking this simple question: In Indianapolis, could a candidate in the mold of Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani be elected within the next couple of cycles? Well, considering the…

by Mark Franke Political drama. Sadly, this was the reluctant opinion of my Socratic discussion group after we took on the issue of immigration last month. Any workable long-term solution requires political sense in Washington DC and particularly in the halls of Congress. Expecting anything sensible from that dysfunctional bunch is drawing into extremely long odds.  Instead the issue has been hijacked by the two extremes needing to act out in public. Meanwhile those 535…

Delineating ‘Growth OUR MAYOR likes to tout her city as being one of the fastest “growing’ in the state. The scare quotes are to alert you that growth needs some definition. The mayor is talking demographically, that is, her city is increasing in the raw number of people. That is the wrong metric, it will be argued here. For many of our newly arrived are low-income. My assistant Grok says that a majority may fall below the…

Race and Crime: Stats Matter (He) “struggled with mental health issues” and appeared to have “suffered a crisis.” — the mayor of Charlotte describing the man who stabbed to death 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska riding the train to her work. A FRIEND, a young man with a wife and two small children, was shot a few days ago — in the morning, driving to work. That is the fifth person in my middle-class otherwise mundane circle, all simply…

We’ve Lost the Founders’ Mindset SOME OF US have spent decades studying the legislative mind. Most of us have worked through our cynical phase where we assumed it was all selfishness and venal ambition. There are many Indiana legislators sincerely trying to advance measures that they consider important for all of our well-being. It’s just that they aren’t trying hard enough, and only up to a point. The mindset is that of a lawyer (the officeholder) representing clients (you…

by John F. Gaski, Ph.D.  The media and American people don’t seem to get it.  A few talking heads have verged on elucidating what is happening, but the true gestalt has yet to be adequately processed in the general media.  Namely, why must today’s liberal Democrats resort to such fanatical measures, in government and in the streets, to protect the illegal alien presence in our country?             What gestalt?  First, it took most of the media far…

by Mark Franke We think of money these days as anything but tangible. Venmo accounts, credit and debit cards, ACH transfers—we don’t really touch “real” money anymore. And so we can’t appreciate its importance in the development of civilization and our comfortable standard of living. “The History of Money: A Story of Humanity” (Henry Holt and Company 2024, 367 pages plus notes, $26 hardcover at Amazon) is a mostly irreverent, frequently enlightening and sometimes witty…

Reality Check: NFL Economics BACK WHEN INDIANAPOLIS was selling its grandchildren to bring the Colts to town, an economist friend estimated that the contribution to the local economy would be equivalent to only three Walmarts. He was way off. When spread over 365 days, the daily economic “foot traffic” impact of an NFL stadium falls between that of a gas station convenience store and a single grocery store, not a big-box store. How can that be? Well, a…

History Matters, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez IT IS EASY to make fun of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and her flubs. It is clear she doesn’t  understand the dynamics that created America or her own heritage. But she is not alone. It would be surprising if there are 20 Indiana legislators who would fare better. Surveys of how little this generation understands of Western Civilization are so discouraging that they have quit conducting them. There is a hole in our education system where there should be a complementary history…

by Mark Frank “Time is the only scarce commodity.” I heard this on a Viking commercial from company chairman Torstein Hagen. His point, I assume, is don’t put off things you have always wanted to do. Since Viking’s clientele is largely aging retirees, his advice is certainly well given. The problem with time is that it doesn’t move at the same speed for everyone, nor at a constant pace during a person’s lifetime.  When I was…