Quick Read

Tiles with abuse words

The Providence teachers union goes full DARVO.

By Justin Katz | March 15, 2022 |

The amazing thing about Sarah Doiron’s report on the staged protest of the state Department of Education by teachers union members  is that it doesn’t say why the state took control of their schools.  The audacity is nothing short of shocking: More than 100 teachers marched the streets of Providence Monday afternoon to demand the state…

Store signage

Why does Brianna Henries want to make life worse for working Rhode Islanders?

By Justin Katz | March 14, 2022 |

I’ve been trying to figure out which is the case:  Either politicians have developed such thorough contempt for the people that they assume we’re complete fools whom they can deceive with impunity or we’re allowing people to gain public office whom a healthy civilization would have kept well away from the controls. The problem goes…

Image of COVID as planet Earth

Governor McKee Declines to Comment about 854 Unvaccinated Health Care Workers

By Monique Chartier | March 13, 2022 |

We recently learned, deep in a Rhode Island Department of Health report, that as of last month, 854 unvaccinated healthcare workers have been permitted to continue to work without medical exemption in violation of the state’s vaccine mandate.   Major credit to Dr. Andrew Bostom for finding and publicizing this remarkable and disturbing document. Further…

Great Depression bread line

Today’s wasn’t a very good employment report for RI.

By Justin Katz | March 11, 2022 |

Almost since I began keeping an eye on it, the unemployment rate has primarily been a means of disguising the underlying weakness of RI’s economy.  With the latest iteration, the AP writer seems to accentuate the positive, but you don’t have to dig far to see the negative — as far, say, as the state…

A model house and key

Statistics come up short for charges of racism in housing.

By Justin Katz | March 11, 2022 |

A lack of housing is a problem, and racism is simply wrong, so we have powerful emotional incentive to join the two matters into the story we tell about our society.  In a more-specific way, advocates and researchers have even more-powerful economic incentive to do so.  In that space, as with “equity audits” in schools,…

Neon mushrooms

We should more hallucinogenics toward legalization.

By Justin Katz | March 9, 2022 |

For the record, I’ve never tried hallucinogenic drugs.  Even as a reckless teenager who was otherwise open to self destruction, I knew myself well enough not to roll the dice on that experiment. This disclaimer is context for my agreement with progressive Democrat state representative Brandon Potter’s proposal to move toward decriminalization of psilocybin, which…

Teacher and students

School districts still have illegal provisions in their contracts.

By Justin Katz | March 9, 2022 |

The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity has localized a study from the Mackinac Center finding that some school districts in Rhode Island continue to have provisions in their teacher contracts that don’t reflect the right of teachers to work without joining the union and requiring express consent to enroll them: According to the Mackinac…

A man fuels his car

Don’t let them spin away the pain they’re infliction on Americans.

By Justin Katz | March 8, 2022 |

Gas prices have hit record highs in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, according to AAA.  We’ve achieved and exceeded the pain some of us remember all too well from the Obama years: In one week, Rhode Island gas prices rose 58 cents and Massachusetts saw a growth of 54 cents. AAA Northeast says Rhode Island’s average…

CDC COVID count maps

Could COVID have ended with a more-political feel?

By Justin Katz | March 7, 2022 |

And just like that, the whole thing’s wished away.  Strategies that some of us have been down-throttled, blocked, or even deplatformed for suggesting over the past two years are suddenly the common wisdom of the “experts,” and images of Anthony Fauci are floating around social media with the text, “Have you seen me?” Since the…

Piggybank with mask

Imagine no special-interest feeding frenzies.

By Justin Katz | March 4, 2022 |

Look, I know this is normal and human, and I wouldn’t actually fault the people involved, but for a little Friday-afternoon fantasizing, let’s imagine this not being the case: When Rhode Island received its $1.13 billion slice of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make tangible investments across the…