Ripple

A water drop and ripples

Oh, it’s just the speaker buying votes.

By Justin Katz | February 15, 2024 |

As business-as-usual as it may be, we shouldn’t become numb to Rhode Island’s base-level corruption, as Democrat House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi demonstrates here: Charitable contributions are wonderful, but this photograph raises some questions.  Is that his official State House office?  Is that a personal check, a gift from his campaign, or a taxpayer-funded legislative grant? …

A water drop and ripples

The problem is teachers’ contempt for their role.

By Justin Katz | February 14, 2024 |

The quotation John pulls from the article is worth highlighting: The disregard of the law is only an incremental worsening of the problem.  Teachers’ going on strike (especially for crass considerations like even higher pay and benefits) has always seemed shocking to me and one of the reasons their unionization seems wholly inappropriate.  If they…

A water drop and ripples

Our institutions are guided by primitive and simplistic racism

By Justin Katz | February 14, 2024 |

I used to spend time pointing out the problem with this sort of bean-counting racism (and sexism), but it hardly seems interesting anymore.  The findings aren’t meant to indicate anything real; they’re simply intended to promote a simple-minded ideology.  We can see this in the fact that the conclusions only ever point in one direction. …

A water drop and ripples

Are there any homeless caves in Rhode Island?

By Justin Katz | February 7, 2024 |

Yeah, officials will complain about the danger of uninspected residences, but as somebody who grew up in an era when fiction was filled with secret communities in society’s hidden corners, I have to admit these homeless caves are cool:* I wonder if there’s anything comparable around here. * I should specify that the coolness of…

A water drop and ripples

Progressives really want a civil war, don’t they?

By Justin Katz | February 6, 2024 |

In recent years, a strange emphasis has been emerging on America’s political Left on the notion of treason.  The accusation flies not only against hated political personages, but also retroactively in ways it didn’t used to be applied, like the Confederacy.  It isn’t difficult to see where this is going: According to this person, the…

A water drop and ripples

We’re in desperate need of basic economic lessons around here.

By Justin Katz | February 5, 2024 |

Economically illiterate activists are laying the groundwork to make housing harder to find, and make life worse, in Rhode Island: This is how economics works.  The rent goes up to reflect the real value of the property.  Other property owners see the value of their space and reconsider their usage. For example, instead of renovating…

A water drop and ripples

McKee’s absolution shows it’s time to disband the Ethics Commission.

By Justin Katz | February 5, 2024 |

This is how appeals to the Ethics Commission often end, these days: From personal experience, I can testify that the Ethics Commission combines the gradual accretion of ethical allowances with the possibility that the commission will completely disregard its precedence to suit its preferences of the moment.  Thus, it tends toward increasing permissiveness with a…

A water drop and ripples

We really need mature leadership in RI, and I wish Neronha were offering it.

By Justin Katz | January 29, 2024 |

Look, I generally disagree with Attorney General Peter Neronha’s politics, but I could put that aside if I thought he were coming to conclusions reasonably.  Unfortunately: I’m certainly not going to defend predatory investment firms, but read the article.  Steward Health Care was already dying.  The story is of an equity firm finding a way…

A water drop and ripples

How many people even know it’s a question why the Brown student was shot?

By Justin Katz | January 29, 2024 |

I warned, when John DePetro and I discussed it some weeks ago, that we shouldn’t jump to the conclusion that the Brown University student shot in Vermont was the victim of anti-Palestinian sentiment.  Now, fully aware how polarized we are, I wouldn’t assert that everybody should take Daniel Greenfield’s FrontPageMag article as proof to the contrary,…

A water drop and ripples

Step lightly toward the bright future of AI medicine.

By Justin Katz | January 17, 2024 |

Such information as this, tweeted by Gregory Conley, is important to keep within your awareness: Such exploration is valuable, but we need strong personal and cultural safeguards against abuse.  Earlier this week, the Dall-E 3 AI (via ChatGPT) I use for many of the images on this site refused to add the Confederate flag on…