Quick Read

Facebook spying through computer

Is Meta moving in on blogs?

By Justin Katz | January 27, 2022 |

A few weeks ago, I received a disconcerting email from the team at Facebook/Meta requesting detailed instructions and credentials to access areas in which a Facebook-related app is functioning.  I’ve written about my concerns on Accuracy in Media: Where this request might fit in Meta’s schemes is impossible to say. Maybe it is as innocent as…

Piles of paperwork

Biden’s giving proof there’s more than one way to raise taxes.

By Justin Katz | January 26, 2022 |

The American Action Forum draws our attention to the massive increase in the cost of regulations Americans have experienced over the past year, mostly going into effect this month: With more than $201 billion in costs, the Biden era to-date far outpaces its predecessors, with more than three times the costs of Obama’s first year and…

RI State House over caution tape

Take note of the socialist assumptions of AutoZone criticisms in Cranston.

By Justin Katz | January 26, 2022 |

Buzzwords flow through political and ideological debates — at the state level even more so than the federal — to the extent that one has to wonder whether the people using them really subscribe to the ideas that they represent. Consider Democrat Representative from Cranston Brandon Potter, tweeting about the city’s decision to permit construction…

Governor Dan McKee and Sgt. Pete Philomena

McKee should withdraw from the governor’s race.

By Justin Katz | January 26, 2022 |

Yes, it’s early in the campaign, but I’m comfortable issuing the declaration in this post’s subject line based on Democrat Governor Dan McKee’s rescission of his historic proclamation recognizing School Choice Week: Gov. Dan McKee’s office said Tuesday night he hadn’t intended to issue a newly surfaced proclamation as part of a national campaign in…

Surveillance cameras on a pole

Take the expansion of surveillance cameras into your community to heart.

By Justin Katz | January 25, 2022 |

Ellen Liberman’s article in Rhode Island Monthly about police programs using the Flock Safety system is important and timely for a number of reasons: The “Flock hit” is a reference to the Flock Safety system, a network of time-stamped license plate-reading cameras linked to a vehicle’s make, model, color and distinguishing marks. The image information…

Cash, cuffs, and the American flag

Americans seem to have lost awareness of our system of government with national blood-alcohol-content mandates in cars.

By Justin Katz | January 25, 2022 |

Remember that massive infrastructure bill that even Republicans supported?  Here’s a little tidbit that slipped through unnoticed: In President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure law there is a mandate that will require all new vehicles to come equipped with advanced impaired driving technology, to curb the amount of people who get behind the wheel after…

A shadowy man on the phone

Beware the Biden administration’s enemies list.

By Justin Katz | January 25, 2022 |

U.S. Senator from Rhode Island Sheldon Whitehouse gets a call out in Lora Ries and GianCarlo Canaparo’s Heritage essay about a turn of the Biden administration and Congressional Democrats toward suppressing their domestic opposition: Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and Richard Durbin of Illinois described parents’ participation in school board…

National School Choice Week 2022 logo

What if nobody in RI knew about McKee’s one saving grace (school choice)?

By Justin Katz | January 24, 2022 |

Because Democrat Governor Dan McKee has been so broadly disappointing from a moderate-to-conservative perspective, this is encouraging news: For the first time in the state’s history, a Rhode Island governor has officially recognized the last week of January as “Rhode Island School Choice Week.” Gov. Daniel McKee recently signed a proclamation recognizing School Choice Week…

Veterans Memorial Auditorium

That little-known, world-famous personality selling out the Vets is Jordan Peterson.

By Justin Katz | January 24, 2022 |

Looking for something to do at The Vets in Providence one of these weeks? Tickets are widely available for the Rhode Island Philharmonic’s performance of Scheherezade on Saturday, February 12.  Angelique Kidjo the next evening?  Pick your section.  The next weekend, the multiple shows of Trolls Live! have plenty of seats available.  If you’re in the…

A man in black pulls strings on fingers

The strings of the COVID-narrative reset are showing.

By Justin Katz | January 22, 2022 |

You know, it’s difficult not to laugh at the computer screen when reading something like this in January 2022: Massachusetts has a new way of how they are reporting COVID-19 hospitalizations to differentiate between what they are calling “primary” and “incidental” cases. The state is now reporting the difference between patients who were admitted for the…