A major reason for Connecticut’s political dysfunction is that it remains a convention state. In most states, prospective candidates are only required to gather a reasonable number of signatures to have their name placed on the ballot. Not in Connecticut.
Joe Bentivegna MD
Posted inCT Viewpoints
U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty — Champion of women’s rights
When Donald Trump became President, liberal Connecticut Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty proudly donned the symbolic pink hat, becoming a fierce member of “The Resistance” to protest the ascent of this evil misogynist. As the #MeToo movement — a reaction against male sexual assault — gained steamed, she tweeted “As a young intern and an attorney, I saw and experienced my fair share of harassment in the workplace. I know how traumatizing, isolating, and painful harassment can be. I understand what that does to one’s work environment.”
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We need to get serious about gun violence
America has become an angry society. Family destruction and income inequality have left many young males in the dust. Judicial rulings have made it impossible to institutionalize the mentally ill. Thus, we have disturbed angry young men who view their lives as empty wishing to make a statement. And they do so by gaining access to powerful guns and killing innocent victims. The latest massacre at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida by a lone gunman, Nikolas Cruz, has pushed the country over the edge. This must stop. But how?
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Dr. Bandy Lee is damaging the psychiatric profession
A Yale psychiatrist, Dr. Bandy Lee, is enjoying her 15 minutes of fame as the editor of the bestseller “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump.” This book contains the opinions of 27 psychiatrists and psychologists, some of whom believe the President suffers from cognitive dysfunction and mental illness. In doing so, they are damaging a specialty that has struggled to gain respectability among the general public and making it more difficult for those with mental disorders to receive treatment.
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President Trump should apologize to the Haitians
Why does President Trump always shoot himself in the foot? His policies of lower taxes and decreased regulation has the economy on a tear and the stock market booming. He has destroyed ISIS, forced NATO to pay its fair share and kept many of his campaign promises.
So why insult African Americans – whose unemployment has plummeted because of his policies – by calling Haiti and Africa a “shithole?” President Trump should apologize and allow the 58,000 Haitians given temporary legal status after the earthquake to remain in the United States.
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Republicans, help the middle class! Raise taxes on the super rich!
Republicans have a unique opportunity to be the dominant party for the next generation by addressing a gnawing problem in American society – the ability of the super rich to manipulate the political process for their own greed. The media concentrate on the top 1 percent, those who make comfortable six-figure incomes. But these individuals are not the problem. It is the top 0.01 percent, a class of super wealthy gods – those with a net worth in the hundreds of millions or billions – who use their economic and political leverage to distort the market place.
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Connecticut Republicans must not snatch defeat from the jaws of victory
A tentative deal has been reached by the Democratic and Republican leadership in Connecticut’s unresolved budget crisis. According to published reports, there will be no concessions by the state workers’ unions, miniscule cuts to the University of Connecticut and a bail out of the bankrupt city of Hartford. In return, teachers will have to pay one percent more of their salary to their pensions, there will be no sales tax increase and the car tax will be eliminated.
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No to the Bridgeport casino
Our politicians and their corporate overlords, in their infinite chase for money, are trying to perpetrate another scam on the good people of Connecticut – an MGM Resorts International casino in Bridgeport Harbor. They will promise jobs, entertainment and tax revenues. They will bring more traffic, Amtrak delays along with despair, personal bankruptcies, embezzlement, domestic violence and suicides.
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Just say no to Connecticut tolls
Some of my otherwise sane fiscally-conservative friends like the idea of tolls, arguing that they have to pay them in other states while citizens from these states get a free ride in Connecticut. This makes no sense. Just because other states are ripping you off, why do you want to be ripped off in your home state too? These same friends also believe the money coming in from the tolls will repair our roads and bridges because the politicians will put the receipts in a “lock box” and only use the money for infrastructure repair. If you believe this, I will gladly sell you the Statue of Liberty for a mere $1,000.
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A military response may be our only option with North Korea
The American president has one job: to prevent the detonation of nuclear weapons. Everything else – the economy, the Supreme Court, the environment, Obamacare, the Russian scandal du jour etc. – is irrelevant. Thus, President Trump has three issues he must address: the first is North Korea, the second is North Korea and the third is North Korea.
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Globalism explained
The political battle lines over globalism have created an unpredictable electoral climate that is perplexing the Ruling Class of the Western world. Fault lines have developed, with the Ruling Class outraged that the masses will not listen to their betters and vote accordingly. Thus, we have Ruling Class outrage over the Brexit vote in England and the victory of President Donald Trump.
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Let Hartford go bankrupt
Connecticut is in the midst of a financial crisis. The decisions made now will determine whether our state returns to its former glory days, or whether it continues on its present path of job contraction and depopulation as young people and retirees flee. The first step in bringing back Connecticut is to allow Hartford to go bankrupt. This will send a message to other big spending municipalities and the state itself that the party is over.
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President Trump’s Syria policy risks his presidency
It may well be that President Trump’s decision to bomb Syria was necessary not only to stop this abhorrent behavior, but to put Russia, China and especially North Korea – who are openly threatening to bomb our West Coast – on notice that the days of America’s leading from behind are over.
But if the President thinks that deposing Assad will lead to Syrian stability, he is mistaken.