Page 18 - Ct Viewpoints News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

If ever there was an institution exemplifying the adage “the road to hell is paved with good intentions,” solitary confinement in our prisons would be it. Quakers in England and in Pennsylvania played a large role in the introduction of isolation as an alternative to the mayhem that was prevalent in prisons. In the U.S. a group of reformers, including many Friends (Quakers), developed a vision of the penitentiary as an alternative to these squalid dungeons. The notion at the time was that providing a space for silent, solitary reflection and penitence would result in rehabilitation. Inste...

We, undersigned professors from Central, Eastern, Southern, and Western Connecticut State universities, believe that it is our responsibility and moral obligation to speak up on behalf and in support of our faculty colleagues and our students, and to express our deepest concerns about the harmful consequences that the contract proposals by the Board of Regents currently under negotiation will have on our students, our four institutions, and the future workforce of our state. We would like to emphasize three areas that we deem as the most adversely affected by the proposal: (1) academic freedo...

Expunge the criminal records of marijuana offenders Connecticut’s state legislature is once again debating the merits of decriminalizing the recreational use of marijuana.  Yet the most heated arguments are not about the wisdom of legalization.  Instead, they have focused largely on the commercialization of marijuana sales.  To what extent should the market be quickly opened to existing outlets for medical cannabis?  Or, in order for opportunities to be spread more fairly to communities of color, might licenses for sale be granted more widely? Steven Wilf In the meantime, thousands of c...

Support HB-5067 to stop non-consensual pelvic/prostate exams under anesthesia Latest status as of March 11, 2021 Imagine you are a patient who is undergoing abdominal surgery, perhaps you have a gynecological or prostate issue.  Naturally you gravitate to the best hospital in your network or you follow your physician. Many physicians wear two hats —they’re both caretakers and teachers. For you, this means that medical students may be there, observing. But many will do far more. As the Yale University School of Medicine explains, this “involves hands-on teaching of invasive clinical ski...

Bitcoin challenges the powers that be While the chattering classes are blathering about the racism of Dr. Seuss, the sexual harassment of Pepé Le Pew and the wokeness of Mr. Potato Head, a subterranean herculean battle is brewing over a new financial asset that could give the masses unprecedented power to prevent profligate governments from impoverishing them by printing money ad infinitum – Bitcoin. Joseph Bentivegna MD Bitcoin is a digital cryptocurrency, meaning that it is protected by complex codes rendering it impossible to counterfeit. Its origins are somewhat mysterious but the cons...