Quick Read

American flag behind a barred window

Activists can do harm with sledgehammer ideology, especially when schools hire them as if they’re objective analysts.

By Justin Katz | February 14, 2022 |

Watchers of the mainstream narrative may be a little surprised that there hasn’t been much coverage of an incident on February 1 at Mount Pleasant High School in Providence during which a school resource officer (SRO) was caught on video being aggressive with a student.  These incidents are difficult to judge from video clips, and…

Allan Fung’s set himself up for his Congressional run in an interesting way.

By Justin Katz | February 11, 2022 |

The headline of this post is genuinely meant.  I’m entirely withholding judgement and am mainly curious what now-candidate Fung is planning. You may have heard that Allan Fung has entered the race for Rhode Island’s second district seat in Congress with this tweet: It’s a great logo that will look cool on t-shirts and other…

A man in a plague mask on a swing

Don’t let COVID-lockdown propaganda hide behind death numbers.

By Justin Katz | February 11, 2022 |

COVID-19 can be a nasty disease, even when it’s not a killer, which it most definitely can be.  The coronavirus is not, however, the only killer, and disease is not the only nasty thing that can happen to your life. As we look out across the landscape of continuing fear, ramped up to an irrational…

An old house next to a graveyard

How can anybody upset with discriminatory housing oppose total school choice?

By Justin Katz | February 10, 2022 |

Judy Schwalbach makes that connection explicit in a report on school choice policies and history in Washington, D.C.: During the 20th century, federally sanctioned housing “redlining” influenced the composition of neighborhoods in large cities across the country, including Washington, D.C. The term “redlining” came from the color-coded maps developed by the Home Owners Loan Corporation…

Colors in a bubble

Masks and truckers present a study in how the bubble of the Capitol forms.

By Justin Katz | February 10, 2022 |

I suspect they’re wildly overrepresented in the items that Twitter pushes onto my screen, but Rhode Island progressives are really something to behold in their reaction to Democrat Governor Dan McKee’s belated and overly hesitant removal of statewide mask mandates. As I suggested earlier, for many of the recognizable personalities, their rhetoric is probably wholly…

Microphone in front of a curtain

Beware what follows Bob.

By Justin Katz | February 9, 2022 |

Bob Walsh, who has been the executive director of the National Education Association of Rhode Island as long as many of us have been paying attention, or even been present in the state, has announced his impending retirement. Some on the conservative side are understandably happy to hear the news, but I’d caution a bit…

Romeo and Juliet

Once you go deplorable, you’ll know that we’re adorable.

By Justin Katz | February 8, 2022 |

To begin with, let me apologize for the subject line.  Once it occurred to me, I couldn’t let it go. If you’re of a certain age, you may recognize the sexual undertones of the phrase, which I began thinking about after stumbling across a Twitter exchange between apparent progressive Liz Gledhill and known conservative Nicole…

The moon over a weathervane

Dr. Skoly coverage may be another indication that the narrative is changing.

By Justin Katz | February 8, 2022 |

Among the encouraging signs that are beginning to peak out of the COVID chill like early buds in spring is that coverage of Dr. Stephen Skoly’s lawsuit hasn’t been limited to the website of the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity, of which he’s chairman, and national conservative sites like The Daily Signal.  The Providence Journal…

A dark net

Social media and COVID are in symbiosis.

By Justin Katz | February 7, 2022 |

Something clicked as I listened to the podcast version of the Megyn Kelly episode embedded from YouTube below. Her primary guest was Tristan Harris, a Silicon Valley player who’s been warning about the manipulative dangers of social media.  He’s taken the Stanford classes on “persuasive technology” along with the tech entrepreneurs and knows how it…

Emily Barger on NowThis

“Youth media” is more concerned with Democrats than with minorities on the Supreme Court.

By Justin Katz | February 4, 2022 |

Accuracy in Media gave me some space to express frustration with the dishonesty of a video from NowThis that attempts to cover for Joe Biden’s pledge to pick the next Supreme Court justice from a narrow demographic: NowThis is lying to its young audience when it claims that “conservatives are freaking out at the idea of a…