For the use of the membership only. WHERE HAVE ALL the political scientists gone? Why should it be a surprise that when the Democratic Party has embraced intersectional identity politics (as recently declared by its vice-chair) that a corresponding white identity politics should develop on the Right (in its current form independent of the Republican Party)? More relevant yet, who are these people? They are not the old skin heads of the 1960’s American Nazi Party…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. In his new book, “A Brief History of Sunday,” Justo Gonzalez explains how we arrived at our sense of Sunday and “the Sabbath.” It is worthwhile to review this history and then consider how it relates to “blue laws” — legislative  restrictions on economic activity on Sundays. Before Christianity began to dominate world culture, civilizations used different ways to identify “weeks” and “months,” needing to observe lengths of time between days…

“A protest will take place outside of the NFL headquarters in New York City in support of free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick. The “United We Stand Rally for Colin Kaepernick” will take place on Aug. 23 at the league’s headquarters on Park Avenue.” — ABC-7 News by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. Colin Kaepernick is the latest example of something we’ve seen quite a bit lately in pro football — players who are or do something aside from their…

“At least six states with GOP governors — Arkansas, Kentucky, Arizona, Maine, Wisconsin and Indiana — have drafted plans meant to introduce new rules people would have to meet to be eligible for Medicaid.” — The Hill, Aug. 3, 2017 by Josh Claybourn As GOP attempts at federal healthcare reform continued to flounder, John Boehner added his prophecy about the chances of his former Republican colleagues successfully passing some sort of repeal and replacement of…

“Governor Eric J. Holcomb today signed an executive order creating a new cabinet-level position in state government to serve as Indiana’s chief talent and recruiting official.” — July 27 press release by John Kessler Will the economic development projects currently being pursued by Indiana make the state more attractive to young people? I can’t foretell the future, but I doubt that they will. What the politicians think will attract young people may not be what young…

Editors: For immediate release (475 words). The table and chart below the column are source material indicating that the developer gets all of his $3.25 million “equity” returned at deal closing as a “development fee.” by Jason Arp In the town where I serve on city council we have had several “quality of place” projects come before us. These are real-estate developments that supposedly attract and retain young, talented workers. The theory is that by sprucing…

THE KIND OF NEWSPAPER that the Indianapolis Star has become is not news. Everyone knows it already. It is important, though, to understand why it has become so. What will surprise some is that it has little to do with any bias of the staff. Rather, it is the predictable result of a shift in ownership structure — and it just shifted again. Newspapers began changing not because of Internet competition (incidental, in my oft-challenged opinion) but rather when proprietors…

“Bipartisan usually means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out. ” – George Carlin  IT IS PREDICTABLE that when political division is great, as it is this week in the U.S. Senate on the issue of healthcare, the calls for compromise are strong. And this is the time, also and incongruously, when the vilifying and name-calling are loudest. Locally the division more often is prompted by tax-funded economic development or grandiose quality-of-place projects. “We need to sit down and iron this…

by Josh Claybourn The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will spend $10 billion this year on “community development,” with most of it allocated to Community Development Block Grants (CDBGs). Approximately $60 million gets allocated to Indiana municipalities, primarily for projects like affordable housing, street repair and subsidizing neighborhood businesses. Part of the lure with CDBG money comes from its flexibility. Local officials have tremendous freedom to fund almost anything as long as the…

by Craig Ladwig A rare enlightening discussion broke out at my council meeting last night. A councilman repeatedly challenged an opponent on an economic-development issue to say how he would have cast a hypothetical vote in the past. “Answer the question,” he demanded, trying to pin the councilman as being against a popular civic venue, a baseball stadium. The other councilman responded that it was easy to hold up “shiny new objects” as successes but…