Quick Read
Many in Rhode Island are too steeped in the mainstream narrative to even consider such a thing, but Joe Biden is, in his way, nastier, more divisive, and more destructive of our civic norms than what Democrats claim of President Trump. In fairness to Biden, however, his is just an exaggerated and less competently executed…
Why are Rhode Island parents so lackadaisical about the poor value they’re getting from the state’s government schools? As Dan McGowan reports, SAT scores are down from where they were before the pandemic, and they were already low compared with those of neighboring states: Math (minimum score of 530 out of 800): 25.3 percent English…
A recently released book by Gale Pooley and Marian Tupy, Superabundance, explores the amazing fact that the prosperity and the availability of scarce resources is proving only to increase as the population grows. Their most fundamental argument is that people have value. Every child added to the world increases the wealth of all of us. The authors…
Clearing out the links I’ve put aside, I came across a tweet that Bill Bartholomew sent out with a clip of himself on A Lively Experiment in early September, and he makes a point that’s still worth considering, related to stories around that time that schools were accommodating students who’d declared themselves to identify as cats:…
If you’re thigh deep in the muck of Rhode Island politics, as I am, you may find something about the local society inexplicable. The game is so locked up, in Rhode Island, that it isn’t clear whether anything can shake the stranglehold of insiders and special interests. Consider two recent stories. On the National Education…
From time to time, I get in a little spat with some well-meaning progressive on social media that reminds me of something I figured out decades ago but periodically forget: In the belief system of many (most?) progressives, no machinery is required between intent and achievement. Wanting to help people means making it a law…
Professor Renee Hobbs specializes in media literacy education for the University of Rhode Island Harrington School of Communication and Media. This tweet of hers therefore struck me as indicative of misplaced focus: An important note of specificity is needed: Paxlovid skepticism is only a communication failure for those who wish to promote it (for profit,…
Remarkably consistent polls from WPRI and the Boston Globe tell a strange, yet familiar, story. Rhode Islanders think their state is going in the wrong direction — 45% versus 34% (WPRI) and 48% versus 35% (Globe). Meanwhile, favorable opinions of incumbent Democrat Governor Dan McKee almost match those results inversely to what one would expect —…
The student protest against Providence teacher Ramona Bessinger ought to be a teachable moment. Thus far, not a single credible accusation against her relates to anything she’s done in the classroom or involving particular students. The students are incensed by her personal social media activities. Linda Borg’s article on the matter is telling. The tone…
We can have honest discussions about propriety and the conflicting emotional reactions people have to public images, but the strange controversy over pop-star Lizzo’s playing an historic flute of James Madison’s is a great illustration of the dishonesty of mainstream progressive rhetoric. It is as clear as a crystal instrument that the mainstream isn’t interested…