News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
Ian Underwood 
Here’s a thought experiment for you to try. Imagine that you meet with your employer to tell him all the things you want to buy, and how much money you’d need to be able to pay for them. You tell him that you think you should get paid whatever amount would be needed to make … Read more
Someone mentioned to me recently that Rep. Hope Damon has introduced a bill to change the way school superintendents are credentialed. It’s classic Damon: Some parts of the bill refer to other sections of the bill that don’t exist. And the bill makes no reference to the Ed Rules that already exist. The bill reads like … Read more
I came across this the other day, and was startled to see that it was written 6 years ago. It could have been written yesterday — which confirms the accuracy of the analysis. With Comrade Volinsky taking another tilt at the ‘fairness’ windmill — slightly ahead of schedule — it seems appropriate to re-publish it … Read more
Andru Volinsky is asking people to think about what is fair in the context of raising money to pay for schools. Here’s the answer I gave him. We can think about that by considering the following story. One day, Pat and Chris came to do some shopping at Mr. Volinsky’s Grocery Store. Each of them … Read more
Remember Ruth Ward, who helped repeal the only RSA that actually required schools to bring students to proficiency in reading and math? She’s at it again. She has proudly announced a new bill that would allow the Claremont school district to collect its adequacy funds before attendance is confirmed, at the beginning of the year. … Read more
With Democrats claiming that the government has shut down because Republicans don’t want to deal with health care, it’s time for a reminder that if Democrats really want to provide subsidized health care to people who think that’s a good idea, they don’t need Republicans to do that: If the UK can implement a single-payer … Read more
When you talk to legislators about political reform, whether it’s in the schools or anywhere else, they are often interested in making small changes — largely because those seem to be the only kind anyone thinks can be made. (The technical psychological term for this is learned helplessness.) I’ve been thinking for a while now … Read more
If you really believe that ‘there is no place in our country for political violence’, then you can’t support taxation. Because taxation — forcing people to give you their money, to spend it on what you want, by threatening them with harm if they don’t give it to you — is perhaps the oldest and … Read more
Last night I went to see the movie Guns and Moses. It’s in town for only one more day (at Apple Cinemas in Hooksett), and I think you should see it before it’s gone. Here’s the teaser from IMDB: “A beloved small town rabbi in the high desert becomes an unlikely gunslinger after his community … Read more
As in most previous years, the Claremont school board thought it would be able to fund the coming school year through a ransom. And just like that… the board learned that it will have to rely on a budget
It’s that time of the year, when legislators are scrambling to figure out what bills they should introduce for the coming year. I’ve got some suggestions. In no particular order: Short name Description Traffic is traffic Nothing that happens at a traffic stop can be unrelated to the violation that led to the stop. No … Read more
In the comments on a recent post, someone expressed the commonly held (and much-applauded) attitude that, It’s the kids in the classrooms that matter here.. It’s about the life of the child and the parents that are trying to give this child a good life with opportunity — this is the goal here. But this … Read more
This little gem made it into the budget bill, HB2, which was passed by both houses and signed by the governor. Legislative Declaration of Authority Regarding Public Education. In its 1993 and 1997 decisions, in the so-called Claremont series of public school funding cases, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that the New Hampshire Constitution imposes upon … Read more
I just finished watching a little scare session conducted by former NH state senator Jeanne Dietsch, which you can find here. I should start by saying that, in my experience, when NH residents actually talk to Free Staters to find out what they believe, more often than not, they end up realizing that those beliefs … Read more
I recently re-watched the brilliant film Interstate 60. If you haven’t seen it, put it on your to-watch list. One of the characters, Bob Cody (played by Chris Cooper), is a former advertising man who got sick of lying all the time, and decided to spend the rest of his life promoting truth. Or more … Read more
We should think about education the way we think about being armed — because being educated and being armed are the two principal tools for resisting over-reach by government. That is, you have a right, not to have someone else (arm/educate) you, but to (arm/educate) yourself. And you have a responsibility to be (armed/educated), that … Read more
There is great value, when considering a question, to instead consider a generalization of the question. Then, having answered the more general question, you get the answers to more specialized versions for free, and you know they’re consistent with each other. This is actually a pretty large part of what we call thinking. Here’s an … Read more
I just got my new jetpack, and my new micro-helicopter, so I won’t be using the roads anymore. Who do I see about getting my ‘road dollars’ back? What, you say? There’s no such thing? We just pay for the roads, and whoever wants to use them can? And because anyone can use them, we … Read more
So, it’s come to this. We have a federal judge who has enough integrity to look at the 2nd Amendment, even diluted by Bruen, and conclude that a law prohibiting the mere possession of a machine gun is unconstitutional on its face. Awesome! But the Trump administration is now asking for this decision to be … Read more
Just thinking about something that came up last night at dinner with friends. If someone visits the United States, and is born again, does he become a citizen? Ruth Ward et Rick Ladd removenda sunt