A Global Music Catastrophe THERE IS ALWAYS a generational clash of musical tastes. As for me, though, now three generations past my teenage collection of Buddy Holly monophonics, the progression has reached the point I no longer recognize what is playing as music. It has been explained to me that this is to be expected, that each generation has an ear for a different style, that it is what God intended.  I’m not buying it. Indeed, we may be…

Media: a Click Here, a Click There IN THE INTEREST of saving you precious reading time, this column has recommended skipping articles under headlines that contain modal verbs, i.e., “should,” “must,” “ought.” To find examples, just pick up your morning newspaper, blog or sub stack. They will be full of it . . . I mean, full of them. Modal verbs in journalism are excited attempts by the writer to position himself as “in the know” on a…

Profanity Is a Political ‘Tell’ AS A SEASONED COPYEDITOR I recoil at the ever more common profanity in my daily reading. My inclination is to prohibit it, as do the contributors to our backgrounder and journal columns.  I have had to grant, however, that outside of blasphemy it may have a place in the larger conversation, albeit a carefully proscribed one. For like it or not, expressive speech in the form of the rude imperative phrase,…

Our ‘Terrorist’ Discourse “This is not America. This is a terrible nightmare. Somebody slap me and wake me up because I’m ready to get on with it.” — Jasmine Crockett A PEW RESEARCH CENTER survey found that voters it described as members of the “Progressive Left” accounted for only 6 percent of the national electorate and only 12 percent of the Democrat Party coalition. Yet, they are the most politically engaged segment of the party and are disproportionately powerful in shaping…

by Richard McGowan, Ph.D. An outcry greeted the Supreme Court after its ruling that prohibited the use ofaffirmative action in admissions. Opponents of that ruling quickly argued that legacyadmits to schools also do not deserve ‘preferential treatment.’ Legacy admits “are oftenfavored in the application process to encourage alumni ties and donations” and do notdeserve an edge. However, the arguments against schools providing a preference for legacyadmits misrepresent the function of admissions departments. Some anecdotes mighthelp…

THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION is ending and you need to know it was for naught. Our situation, our competitive position vis-a-vis other states and nations, our existential prospects, remain unchanged by the lawmakers’ tiny, calculated baby steps in this direction and that. And know this as well: Hoosiers have elected many fine legislators in recent years. There were more than enough this session to make the necessary changes had the political climate permitted. But the democratic process, alas, is overrated. Let the economist Milton Friedman,…

by Nathanael Snow, Ph.D. Markets are a mechanism for regulating the actions of producers of goods and services. Producers compete to sell to finicky customers, giving people what they want at lower prices. Interventions into markets are usually well-intentioned, though targeted to benefit some stakeholders at the expense of others. Some interventions are justified for cultural or moral reasons. However, there are no solutions, only tradeoffs, and justifiable interventions come at a cost, sometimes unintended. A…

A Random Sanctuary IS IT TOO EARLY to admit that I don’t care what happens to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the deported Salvadoran and “Maryland father”? First, I do not see the connection between my liberty and that of Mr. Garcia, unless of course I decide to transplant myself to another country as an ingrate to express disdain for its laws and culture. Nor do I believe as several congresspersons have projected that the deportation sets the stage for Donald Trump to “disappear” all persons of color. For contrary to the…

By Judge Dan Heath A current topic of debate on news shows and social media is the issuance of “nationwide” or “universal” injunctions against President Donald Trump on issues including immigrant deportation, the withholding of Congressional appropriations to universities for life-saving research, and more. The recent deportation case ruling that ordered Trump to stop the deportation of immigrants to El Salvador brought howls from Trump that Judge Boasberg was a “lunatic” who “ought to be…

by Mark Franke Hardly a day goes by without another federal judge somewhere issuing a nationwide injunction against something the Trump administration has ordered. Ask anyone for an opinion and you will hear it, and no doubt it will be partisan. Those who are anti-Trump will applaud the injunctions as necessary to preserve democracy against authoritarianism and those who are pro-Trump will call for constraint on a judiciary bent on overturning the democratic will as…