Quick Read

A preacher in a spotlight

Resisting mandate madness requires truth… careful, reliable truth.

By Justin Katz | December 23, 2021 |

The threads are multiple and not worth finding and consolidating, but there’s been some social media chatter hereabouts around a dustup between progressive podcaster Bill Bartholomew and freelance COVID commentator Andrew Bostom. Bartholomew was guest-hosting for WPRO, and Bostom called in to argue about COVID-related mandates and then posted audio bragging of having “eviscerated” the…

Teenager gets vaccinated

Tell institutions not to let superstition lead to dangerous COVID policies.

By Justin Katz | December 23, 2021 |

As elite colleges begin the process of peer pressure among institutions to implement mandates for COVID-vaccine booster shots, an op-ed by Johns Hopkins medical professor Dr. Marty Makary is a must-read: The U.S. government is pushing Covid-19 vaccine boosters for 16- and 17-year-olds without supporting clinical data. A large Israeli population study, published in the…

A Providence neighborhood at night

We never ask the right questions about surveys like the Rhode Island Life Index.

By Justin Katz | December 22, 2021 |

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island and Brown University now have several years of data in the compilation of their Rhode Island Life Index, which is basically a survey of how Rhode Islanders perceive various aspects of the Ocean State experience.  Subindexes contributing to an overall score of 63 (out of 100) include: Quality…

A Salvation Army bell ringer

The Salvation Army’s slide is only a mystery inside the mainstream bubble.

By Justin Katz | December 22, 2021 |

Kelly O’Neill reports for WJAR that the Salvation Army is 11% behind on donations in Rhode Island and 30% in New Bedford.  Whether the percentages are “behind the goal” or “behind last year” isn’t clear, but it amounts to tens of thousands of dollars in this area.  Rhode Island’s state coordinator, Roger Duperree points to…

The pain box in Dune 1984

In the modern context, Dune’s Pain Box would be an Affirmation Box.

By Justin Katz | December 21, 2021 |

With Dune back in the popular culture, all people of good will and right mind should be relieved that it includes one of the most profound moments of the book, captured here in the prior movie adaptation because it was the best clip I could find quickly:     The quick summary is this:  The priestess…

American flag behind a barred window

How can “open government groups” be so blind to the reality of remote public meetings?

By Justin Katz | December 21, 2021 |

I’m honestly baffled that a coalition of “open government organizations” would call on Democrat Governor Dan McKee to reinstate executive orders allowing government bodies to meet remotely again: We therefore once again strongly urge you to reinstate your earlier executive orders so as to permit public bodies to meet virtually and thereby allow the public…

Infectious bronchitis virus

Mainstream vaccine advocates should just stop lying.

By Justin Katz | December 21, 2021 |

I was perfectly comfortable receiving the Pfizer vaccine against COVID.  I investigated how they work and reviewed the numbers, and decided it made sense.  Since I wrote that post in May, however, public health authorities and those who’ve put them on a pedestal have continued to sound like pitchmen rather than scientists, which has made…

A blurry Google logo

Watching Big Tech is like watching a trap close.

By Justin Katz | December 20, 2021 |

The evolution of online information technology companies is a lesson in the importance of first principles. Only recently has the convenience of cloud technology become so overwhelming in some activities that I’ve been giving in to it in a more-general way, and the temptation is always there to make it central.  The idea, which has…

A ring of doctors and nurses

RI’s COVID experience should inoculate us against socialism.

By Justin Katz | December 20, 2021 |

The headlines of doom are coming! Above a Brian Amaral report in the Boston Globe readers will find this:”R.I. health care system ‘is currently collapsing,’ emergency doctors warn“: The crisis has led to long wait times and inconsistent standards of care: “rationing resources, unable to provide privacy, and certainly unable to provide any COVID-19 isolation…

Hospital beds

COVID death reports remain highly misleading and insufficient for fear-mongering.

By Justin Katz | December 18, 2021 |

The United Kingdom gives a good example of the problem with this constant reporting of COVID numbers as if they should be scary, especially when the metric is people with COVID, not people who have been assessed to have been harmed by it. Here’s the underlying data, which shows that the United Kingdom has had…