Short-term it is easier to ignore people who hold abhorrent views than to engage with them. We like to remain in “bubbles.” I ask that people please watch the FB podcast “Mouthwash,” hosted by John Schmitz, Tuesday at 8 p.m., for a debate about separation of church and State.

My opponent will be Hamilton County minister Micah Beckwith. When Mr Beckwith ran for the 2020 GOP nomination for INCD5, his website noted his (1) “deep understanding” of U.S. history” and (2) how he wanted to…

On Tuesday, at 8 p.m., on “Mouthwash,” a podcast produced and hosted by John Schmitz, I shall debate separation of church and State with Micah Beckwith, a pastor at several churches in counties north of Indy. This should be fun and informative.

Mr Beckwith was a candidate in the 2020 GOP primary for INCD5. His campaign website notes his “deep understanding of American history....” and he’s “answering the call to take the fight to Washington to defend true CONSTITUTIONAL conservative…

Few things are scarier than a self-righteous mob bent on saving lives and keeping people safe, facts be damned. In the middle of the night my cell phone went off. I looked at the screen. An AMBER alert had been issued. Another went off a few minutes later.

Little kids should not be in jeopardy. However, despite news items of individual successes or articles published by those who advocate for the system itself, a peer-review study suggests the alerts are not so…

All drugs should be legal. No experiences have altered my belief, held since the mid-1970s. The burden, in a land “that’s known as freedom,” should be on government to justify laws that jail people who possession a plant.

The default position should be that unless something is intrinsically wrong, e.g., outright murder of a human being, that thing should be legal. Reasons given for the “war on drugs” are based on a false notion that government should protect us against…

Todd Rokita, Indiana’s AG, posted on Facebook on April 1: “Today, I was grateful to meet with Raju Chinthala, founder and president of the Indiana India Business Council. We value the important role this group plays in strengthening economic ties between Indiana and India.”

The AG’s “rights, powers, and duties” are created by statutes. (See I.C. § 4-6-1-6.) The statutes have been construed as giving the AG sole responsibility for the legal representation of the State. State ex rel…

Georgia’s new voting laws provide “bad optics.” An African-American female member of their legislature knocked on the office door to witness the governor, flanked by white males and seated under a painting of a plantation, sign the changes into law.

“Q” enthusiasts doubt reality and have no room to complain. Rep Park Cannon wanted to see the signing of the measure into law. “Q” people are feign to acknowledge down is up, trump lost or that a mass shooting is any more than a bad day.…

Offensive is an item, in the Republican Newsletter, by Indiana’s State Party chair, Kyle Hupfer: “On Good Friday tomorrow please join us in remembering that Christ gave the ultimate sacrifice for all of us.” Mr Hupfer wrote this in his official capacity.

The Indiana Constitution protects Mr Hupfer’s rights to religious opinions and conscience (Art. I, sec. 3) and religion (Art. I, sec. 4.) Some in the GOP want a theocracy: “Government of a state by those who are believed to be or…

All of Indiana AG’s “rights, powers, and duties” are created by statute. I.C. § 4-6-1-6. Office of AG was created by statutes, in 1889, construed as giving the AG sole responsibility for the legal representation of the State. State ex rel Sendak v Marion Sup. Ct, 268 Ind. 3, 8 (Ind. 1978).

The AG shall consult with and advise Indiana prosecuting attorneys, and when, in the AG's judgment, the interest of the public requires it, attend, and assist in, the trial of any party accused of…

Indianapolis! With the NCAA women’s (congrats to IU!) and men’s basketball tournaments at play, we can see how capitalism plays out: like a single-elimination tournament with no re-set for the next season. Businesses do not like competition.

Republicans do not define “socialism,” but Oxford Languages does: “a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a…

Last evening on Facebook I pointed out, as I have consistently for the past couple of years, that we lack CDC-sponsored, peer-review studies on gun violence, particularly whether guns, overall, stop more violence than they cause.

A person posted a link to a CDC pamphlet- between 60K and 2+ million defensive gun usages (DGU) occur per year - and noted “CDC.” The person did not bother to look at the pamphlet. I did. The stats were from other sources, not CDC. More importantly?

We…

If guns prevent violent crimes, and the USA has nearly twice as many firearms per 100 people (120.5) as second place (Falkland Islands, 62.1; Small Firearms Report, 2017), we should have virtually NO violent crime.

Maybe the problem is those pesky “gun-free zones” where peace-loving people, in disregard of the violence they cause, shilly-shally about. Some examples of “gun-free zones” are the NRA’s annual convention, CPAC, and my living room. Okay, well then...

Maybe the…

Gun nuts, those who value guns uber alles, have an odd habit, after a mass shooting. Gun nuts scorn those who question gun nuts’ odd interpretation of the 2nd Amendment. Implicit is the idea that gun violence only can be addressed in the absence of mass shootings.

Freedom of speech necessarily includes the right to call for gun control. To be clear, residents of Tombstone, Arizona, and Dodge City, Kansas, enacted strict laws and restricted guns. If guns prevent gun violence, the USA…

We are stewards of the Earth, in our care for each other and for future generations. To protect the environment is not a silly amusement but a matter of our survival. If pollution is good, then why do owners of sources of toxins not live downwind from their creations?

The less-than-middle-class white people who still support trump are far (1) less likely to benefit from tax cuts he gave the billionaire class (of which he is not a member) and (2) more likely to die earlier from COVID…

Two corporations write the laws to determine who writes the laws. Heywood Broun said media aren’t biased toward big business; the media are big business. The two major political parties go beyond bias toward corporatism. They are impenetrable corporations.

For a light read: Developments in the State Regulation of Major and Minor Political Parties, 82 Cornell LRev 109 (1996). “[P]olitical scientists have found that the Democrats and Republicans ‘have built themselves virtually…

John Schmitz, both a Client and a friend of mine, invited me, Chris Moore and Robert Croddy to be guests for last evening’s episode of Mr Schmitz’s podcast “Mouthwash.” Mr. Croddy was an early supporter of number 45 who was given the 86 by the American electorate.

Our topic was: “the fix is in, ‘fairness in elections.’” The context: the March 6 Marion County GOP caucus. All four participants are precinct committee people (PCs) and had attended the caucus, where Mr. Schmitz staged an…

Corporations are not evil. “A corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of law ... [I]t possesses only those properties which the charter of its creation confers upon it.” Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 17 U.S. 518, 536 (1819).

Problem 1: that second “only” can be dropped. Problem 2: shares of corporations can be owned by any person or corporation. Problem 3: after Citizens United Money can spend on elections without much…

A new administration can change priorities and policies. Our military budget makes up 37% of the World’s military budget and needs to be cut because 1) It makes us less secure; 2) Its use is based on lies; 3) It robs our economy; and 4) trump sold our secrets.

1) People of other countries hate us because we bomb them and others without concern. The 911 attacks largely were carried out by Saudi nationals as a response to our incursion in the Middle East for Gulf War I - an action we…

“You can’t be moral if you’re not Christian.” These words express an arrogant belief about the certainty of existence and is a kind of belief, held by a few who are adherents of “dominionism”, that would exclude any but its adherents from political power.

There are a lot of problems with this specific interpretation of a system of beliefs. If a poll were taken, I believe a majority of people who identify as Christian, would say this view appals them, but the Falwells and trumps of the…

“Guns” and “fight tyranny” might not show up in proximity to one another with great frequency in a Google search, but their joinder has been a constant theme from those who advocate a right to own firearms by individuals.

The idea has been that the ultimate way to fight tyranny is for individuals to own guns. This is nothing more than 3-card monte, a sleight-of-hand where distraction wins the real thing. Now we know “guns” and “fight tyranny” really belong together, but not as…

Our country is supposed to function on the basic principles of majority rule in open and fair elections. A fringe of the latest iteration of the GOP has made much of the (patently false) claim that voter fraud has cost GOP candidates offices.

On Saturday, March 6, we witnessed the rather primitive play of power in the Marion County GOP’s election of Joe Elsener as County chair. Mr Elsener was a last-minute candidate chosen for the party by a hierarchy immune from popular checks. (Look…