Quick Read

Ballot Integrity, Not Unrealistic Deadlines, Needs to be Paramount for RI BOE

By Monique Chartier | August 8, 2023 |

Update: The RI BOE voted 5-2 today to review all of the signatures on Sabina Matos’ nomination papers. Ms. Matos is on the Democrat primary ballot for the RI CD1 special election and ballots have already been mailed out to military and out-of-country voters. It is unclear if the outcome of the BOE’s review would…

Rhode Island map, featuring neighboring states.

Does Providence Owe Narragansett $16.7K or Does Narragansett Owe Providence $1.1M?

By Carroll Andrew Morse | August 1, 2023 |

Do we have a test case, for bringing this session’s Supreme Court’s ruling in Tyler v. Hennepin County to Rhode Island? In Tyler v. Hennepin County, in a refreshingly short 9-0 opinion, the Court ruled that when local governments seize property over unpaid taxes, they are only entitled to keep what was owed. So after…

John Kerry: Zero Emissions by China and US (and Rhode Island) Not Enough

By Monique Chartier | August 1, 2023 |

Last week came the good news (for our electric bills) that Rhode Island Energy, formerly National Grid, had declined the Revolution Wind 2 offshore wind proposal. A week prior, John Kerry, President Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, departed from China without accomplishing his mission; namely, to … use climate co-operation to redefine their [US…

Ivan Vladimirov's Night Robbery of Humanitarian Aid

Rhode Island must come to grips with its decline and reverse it.

By Justin Katz | July 26, 2023 |

For all the talk about equity and living wages in the Ocean State, we hear surprisingly little about the lack of opportunity and earnings growth for working people.  A recent Wall Street Journal editorial understandably focuses on larger states, but Rhode Island makes an appearance, nonetheless: Earnings nationwide rose 5.4% on average between the first…

Homeless man "seeking human kindness"

To reduce homelessness, Rhode Island should reduce the minimum wage.

By Justin Katz | July 25, 2023 |

Homelessness may be the most striking issue on the table in the degree to which proposed solutions conspicuously ignore causes.  The attitude of the advocates and journalists seems to be that homelessness falls like an original cause on a metro area and can only be addressed through direct government reduction.  That’s a careless approach; an…

A wind farm at sea

Rhode Island Energy (National Grid) Correctly Nixes Revolution Wind 2

By Monique Chartier | July 23, 2023 |

A lot going on, I know; e.g.,everybody good with their nomination signatures to get on the CD1 ballot …? But I didn’t want to let this go by without flagging. Citing “higher proposed contract costs”, Rhode Island Energy, formerly National Grid, announced Tuesday that it declined the Revolution Wind 2 offshore wind proposal, the sole…

Mail ballot envelope

What did McKee pay Holly $1,500 a month for during the election?

By Justin Katz | July 19, 2023 |

Kathy Gregg reports in the Providence Journal that the person who collected the nomination signatures for Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos’s congressional run that are being scrutinized as fraudulent in multiple communities is Holly Cekala McClaren, who is the Holly with the (found to be exaggerated) Rhode Island accent in Governor Dan McKee’s dark and disgusting “you’re…

Yellow schoolbus.

RIPEC illustrates why government meddling in education is to be avoided.

By Justin Katz | July 18, 2023 |

A crucial bit of advice in our quick-communication, social-media age is to force yourself to leave space between reading something that bothers you and responding to it.  Usually, this tactic will help you avoid responding heatedly to things that simply don’t matter that much.  Sometimes, you’ll avoid unforced interpersonal errors.  But sometimes, giving things further…

Money pouring out of the Capitol Building dome.

Primer on the Insanity of the 14th-Amendment Solution

By Carroll Andrew Morse | May 21, 2023 |

Let’s go through all of the basics.  Most basic of all:  A debt remains real, even when you don’t have the money to pay it. And what makes a debt real? Basically, a debt is real when the parties who agreed to it and other parties around them agree that something bad will happen, if…

Goya Attended by Doctor

Watch the inversion from their responsibility to care for you to your responsibility to die for them.

By Justin Katz | May 16, 2023 |

In recent conversation with Tim Ferriss, Canadian writer-explorer Wade Davis took a slight detour to speak of the community benefits of Canada’s socialized healthcare system: It has everything to do with social solidarity. It has everything to do with every Canadian knowing that they belong, and knowing that if their kid gets sick, they will…