Quick Read

Chains on white skin

Does Barack Obama realize how much he stokes division? Is it deliberate?

By Justin Katz | June 10, 2021 |

Obama has always had a talent for talking out of both sides of his mouth.  On one hand, as Nina Bookout catches for Victory Girls, he’ll say things like this, reminiscent of the Democrat convention speech that put him on the national political map: Right now, it’s easy to focus on what divides us, and there…

Liquid pouring into an invisible glass

Here are some climate-change facts you may not know.

By Justin Katz | June 9, 2021 |

It’s interesting to see information like this, in the New York Post, coming from Steven Koonin, who was undersecretary for science in the Obama administration’s Department of Energy: … both research literature and government reports state clearly that heat waves in the US are now no more common than they were in 1900, and that the…

NEA-RI logo overshadows South Kingstown schools logo

It appears that NEA-RI is stalking South Kingstown.

By Justin Katz | June 9, 2021 |

Most people who pay attention to these sorts of things know that the South Kingstown school department has the dubious distinction of having as one of its governing school committee members, Sarah Markey,  an actual organizer from the National Education Association of Rhode Island (NEA-RI), which is the state-level union representing the district’s teachers.  That…

Mail ballot envelope

If there was insignificant fraud, election audits would clear the air, wouldn’t they?

By Justin Katz | June 9, 2021 |

Curiously, for all the national news that makes its way into Rhode Island–based media, stories like this, from Paul Sperry of RealClearInvestigations, don’t seem to get much airing: When Fulton County, Ga., poll manager Suzi Voyles sorted through a large stack of mail-in ballots last November, she noticed an alarmingly odd pattern of uniformity in the markings…

Ninny Nothin anti-Christian Sacred Heart

We now return to the promotion of drag queens to children at libraries.

By Justin Katz | June 9, 2021 |

One of the silver linings of having most of the more-progressive precincts of the nation shut down (a silver lining more than offset by the rest of the storm, of course) was that it limited progressives’ access to other people’s children.  Thus, controversies over drag queen story hours were limited to related incidents, like the…

A lighted brain sculpture

Maybe there are non-medical ways to address mental deterioration.

By Justin Katz | June 8, 2021 |

In the midst of a public health debates that seem to have become stuck in the ruts of political battles, it’s nice to be reminded of the advances that are being made.  Glenn Reynolds highlights one example from the City University of New York (CUNY) Advanced Science Research Center: Recent studies suggest that new brain…

A man fuels his car

TCI is another area where our politicians are happy to be extremists to the detriment of Rhode Islanders.

By Justin Katz | June 8, 2021 |

Last week, an Australian news source noted how extreme Rhode Island politicians are when it comes to imposing mandates on companies that serve our elderly parents and grandparents.  Connecticut just put a big ol’ circle around another area in which Ocean State politicians are extremists without concern for the average resident, as Douglas Hook reports…

Upward line chart

Taxpayer/voter advocates across RI should prepare to track local budgets very closely.

By Justin Katz | June 8, 2021 |

Over on Tiverton Fact Check, I’ve posted an estimate of the extra revenue the town government may find flooding in over the next year: Along with the increasing cacophony of birds and fireworks, we know we must be well into spring in Tiverton as one hears the familiar calls of the town-government budgeters:  “Raise taxes. We…

Fire report

Is somebody trying to make the fire at the speaker’s law office go away?

By Justin Katz | June 8, 2021 |

John DePetro writes that he’s in communication with a federal officer who claims Rhode Island and Warwick fire officials have been providing misleading information: According to a Federal officer, the Rhode Island Fire Marshall’s office mislead Federal officials as to the suspicious fire May 11 at the law office of House Speaker Joe Shekarchi. The…

Sinking ship statue in a Providence park.

Competitive elections that avoid the downward spiral of radicalism have to be a decision of the voters.

By Justin Katz | June 7, 2021 |

A commentary piece by Richard Pildes, a Constitutional law professor at New York University, should resonate with Rhode Islanders: The dynamics and incentives for candidates running in competitive districts are dramatically different than those candidates face in safe districts. For competitive seats, candidates know they must win over enough voters in the center, who might…