Quick Read

Children at sunset

COVID might have brought a new normal in enrollment, but it didn’t change racial trends.

By Justin Katz | December 13, 2021 |

One of the questions on my mind when I thought to create the Rhode Island Public Schools October Enrollment application in Anchor Rising’s People’s Data Armory was the effect of COVID and shutdowns.  As the chart below shows, enrollment in 2020 was down about 3% from the prior year, and it slid a bit rather than…

A hooded man in shadows

Providence murder mysteries can be solved if you use the word, “gangs.”

By Justin Katz | December 13, 2021 |

Nobody should feel encouraged by statements from Democrat Mayor Jorge Elorza or the other Democrats who run the city after another shooting in Providence on Saturday night.  Elorza may claim to “understand that our community needs and deserves to feel safe,” but that isn’t possible when authorities refuse to be clear about what’s going on.…

Giovanni Battista Piranesi's Remains of the Praetorian Castro

Why should soldiers be satisfied with their wages?

By Justin Katz | December 12, 2021 |

John the Baptist’s suggestion to Roman soldiers in today’s Gospel reading at Roman Catholic Mass has always left me feeling as I was missing some historical context: And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” He said to them in reply, “Whoever has two tunics should share with the person who has none.…

Two men about to shake hands in the sunset.

We have to give those on the left somebody or something to turn to.

By Justin Katz | December 11, 2021 |

Ed Driscol draws our attention to an essay on Tablet in which Liel Leibovitz, which definitely deserves the “read the whole thing” tag: You may be among the increasing numbers of people going through The Turn right now. Having lived through the turmoil of the last half decade—through the years of MAGA and antifa and rampant…

Whiteboard harassment of Ramona Bessinger

How is the Rhode Island Foundation permitted to push racist policies in Providence schools?

By Justin Katz | December 11, 2021 |

Lean back a moment and clear your eyes.  If you’re older than thirty, recall lessons you learned when you were young — that it is always wrong to discriminate against people based entirely on the color of their skin.  Now read this short paragraph: One of the [Providence school] district’s current incentives, which will continue…

Justin Katz's political spectrum illustration

For journalists like UConn professor Mike Stanton, tyranny is the first choice.

By Justin Katz | December 10, 2021 |

Attitudes like this, from former Providence Journal reporter and University of Connecticut journalism professor Mike Stanton fascinate me.  Commenting on Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee’s hesitance to impose a statewide mask mandate, Stanton writes: Yes, poor leadership. Because it’s contrary to what the doctors & experts recommend. I went to PPAC the other night; they required…

A man blowing his nose

What makes this something other than “just a cold”?

By Justin Katz | December 10, 2021 |

The headline that the Providence Journal gave to Mark Patinkin’s latest column puts things in a useful context: “It’s just a cold, right? I thought a booster made me invulnerable — but I got COVID.”  If we step back a pace and look at things objectively, we might indeed wonder what makes COVID something other than…

Kara's threatening "thank you"

How the Rhode Island opposition can stop harassment.

By Justin Katz | December 9, 2021 |

This suggestion from Nicole Solas has stayed near the top of my “to post” list for a month because it gets to an important strategic discussion too often rushed through on the Rhode Island right. Nicole retweeted the picture used as the featured image of this post, which was posted by Kara.  The “thank you”…

Emotions with masks and shades

Don’t worry! The science has studiously avoided figuring out how harmful masks are to children.

By Justin Katz | December 9, 2021 |

Is it just me or do the people who support mask mandates seem deliberately to be avoiding the points that those in opposition are actually making? At some point after my post responding to his call for a statewide mask mandate, Boston Globe reporter and columnist Dan McGowan tweeted a link to the CDC’s (incredibly one-sided)…

A toy school bus

RI charter schools are a haven for low-income minority students.

By Justin Katz | December 9, 2021 |

Charter schools offer a prime example of how the easy access to data enabled by Anchor Rising’s People’s Data Armory can shed light on public debate. Listening to public debate about charter schools and how they take money from regular district schools, one gets the impression of advantaged families drawing resources away from disadvantaged ones,…