Ripple

A water drop and ripples

We have to take the reality of meddling billionaires into account.

By Justin Katz | September 14, 2024 |

Last night, I read a business case about a handful of billionaires who’ve been trying to make lab-grown meat a viable consumer product, and I wondered something tangential.  Imagine if a handful of billionaires decided they needed to have a pliable big-government progressive in the White House. They might flood her accounts with hundreds of…

A water drop and ripples

The point of government seems to be as a way to make politicians feel like celebrities.

By Justin Katz | September 13, 2024 |

It’s a passing thought, of course, but Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee’s mild lament that a State House celebration of a basketball trophy is happening during school hours bugs me.  Somehow, it emphasizes the point that our government officials see the well-being of children — of all regular Rhode Islanders, for that matter — as…

A water drop and ripples

Oh, Democrats have a plan for you, alright.

By Justin Katz | September 12, 2024 |

Something more like a cookbook or plantation.  I’ve heard complaints that conservatives have “no plan for you” — or “no vision for what the town should be” — repeatedly over the years, and I think it’s the most disturbing complaint progressives make. Chris Rufo articulates my view: Where do I see the town, state, or…

A water drop and ripples

Kamala Harris’s notion of an unrealized gains tax is terrifying.

By Justin Katz | September 12, 2024 |

The reason it’s terrifying isn’t only that unrealized gains are purely hypothetical.  The proposal (and defenses of it) show that for many taxation has become purely a money-finding scheme requiring the scantiest of rationale.  By their nature, unrealized capital gains do not actually exist; they are hypothetical. While striving to come up with some sort…

A water drop and ripples

Neronha’s being silly about electric vehicle charging ports.

By Justin Katz | September 11, 2024 |

With the caveat that we have to infer what he’s trying to suggest, I think we can conclude Attorney General Peter Neronha is implying Rhode Island isn’t keeping up on electric vehicle charging ports: Well, yeah.  Rhode Island is a small state, geographically, meaning people are never very far from home, and in any event,…

A water drop and ripples

Yes, the Republican North Smithfield School Committee candidate’s comment on Tim Walz’s son is uncomfortable.

By Justin Katz | September 11, 2024 |

But we have to be wary of the political whipsaw.  Evan Masse’s tweet was dumb and insensitive, but his practical problem was that he was caught up in what we might call a Democrat call for evidence. It would be a very normal reaction to pause upon seeing Walz’s son at the Democrat National Convention…

A water drop and ripples

Does it really matter who runs the RIGOP?

By Justin Katz | September 10, 2024 |

Katherine Gregg took a look at the current state of the race for leadership of the Rhode Island GOP, and the question that comes to my mind is whether it really matters.  On a surface level, the uncertain proposition is that even a functioning GOP could make a difference, which I’m not sure the Rhode…

A water drop and ripples

A quick summary of my latest thinking on taxes.

By Justin Katz | September 10, 2024 |

We should repeal all federal income taxes.  Income taxes are a great evil that has changed the nature of our relationship with government. Instead, the federal government should be funded through a capitation (per-person) tax payable proportionally by each state. That is, our states would be responsible for collecting a tax calculated based purely on…

A water drop and ripples

Mark Steyn asks a question about elections many of us are pondering.

By Justin Katz | September 9, 2024 |

Observing the lack of media curiosity about who runs the country while Joe Biden takes weeks of vacations, Steyn asks: If that question is of no interest to the media or the majority of the American people, then what is the point of being breathless with excitement over a two-year presidential election campaign? Or even…

A water drop and ripples

Trump at Arlington is a good lesson in progressive pathology.

By Justin Katz | September 9, 2024 |

Note how progressive Democrats have framed the universe, as Sunny observes: As always, people who disagree with progressives are abusing power when they do anything to their own advantage, but progressives are never abusing power when they do whatever it takes to win.  Keep an eye out for this dynamic especially when it comes to…