Ripple

A water drop and ripples

Rep. Brianna Henries reminds us how awesome our country is.

By Justin Katz | December 28, 2021 |

Here’s the comment of Est Providence Representative Brianna Henries on today’s biggest news in RI: gob·smacked /ˈɡäbˌsmakt/ adjective INFORMAL•BRITISH utterly astonished; astounded ….however I’m not surprised. I can’t even fathom meeting this level of racism with a clever quip, it does not merit that. This is the reality of our world. We simply must do…

A water drop and ripples

Geena Pham isn’t really disproving Morgan’s concerns. [Language warning]

By Justin Katz | December 28, 2021 |

Geena Pham is a progressive candidate for state senate and a public school teacher.  Here she is tweeting about Patricia Morgan’s controversial comment: Delete your fucking Twitter, Patricia. You’re a disgrace to Rhode Island. Honestly, a world in which a public school teacher running for political office tweets such a thing is exactly a world in…

A water drop and ripples

Maybe deceptive media is secretly anti-vax?

By Justin Katz | December 28, 2021 |

I’m with Ed Driscoll in finding it political that CBS would edit out its reporter’s complaints about the harm of COVID restrictions on kids: Longtime CBS reporter and chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford went viral on Sunday and Monday on social media following comments, meant to air on Sunday’s Face the Nation, that slammed our…

A water drop and ripples

Stop and think about the economics of non-profits.

By Justin Katz | December 27, 2021 |

Articles like this from the New York Times are a fascinating view into a worldview where the frame is just shifted (off, I’d say) by a little bit.  (Search the link in Google to read the article if it’s blocked when you click.) In a Northern California school district, the superintendent is taking shifts as a lunchroom…

A water drop and ripples

Eliminating risk is risky business.

By Justin Katz | December 27, 2021 |

I see Glenn Reynolds shares my concerns about charging forward with cures for every nuisance illness. On the one hand, a universal flu vaccine would be great. On the other, say it works for several decades and then a strain of flu evades it. Wouldn’t it be an ugly “virgin field” epidemic at that point?…

A water drop and ripples

McKee is doing exactly what King George did.

By Justin Katz | December 27, 2021 |

This complaint in the Declaration of Independence came to mind while reading Democrat Governor Dan McKee’s executive order on the calculation of unemployment insurance fees for businesses: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. Here’s the relevant text from McKee’s order: References to…

A water drop and ripples

Sometimes headline misfires make for imaginative fictional takes.

By Justin Katz | December 24, 2021 |

If I were a teacher or professor of creative writing, I’d save headlines like the following from a WPRI story by Melanie DaSilva for class assignments.  English is wonderful for ambiguities, which makes it an excellent language in which to embed two, three, or even four layers of subtext, but a sometimes-challenging language with which…

A water drop and ripples

Ruggerio is getting feisty!

By Justin Katz | December 24, 2021 |

This is a notably aggressive tweet, responding to provocations from progressive gubernatorial candidate Matt Brown, from the historically reserved Senate President, Dominick Ruggerio: Mr. Brown claims to know working people. I’ve fought for working people my whole life, and I just got done fighting for wage bonuses equating to $15/hr for childcare workers. Matt, you…

A water drop and ripples

Apocalyptic COVID stories feel like manipulative distractions from the real problem.

By Justin Katz | December 24, 2021 |

If the story Brian Amaral wanted to frame with his apocalyptic Boston Globe article about COVID in Kent Hospital in Warwick is that hospital employees are struggling because the state has mismanaged their industry and because it’s disappointing to watch unvaccinated patients die with COVID, he overshot by a long way.  The message from his…

A water drop and ripples

Is Ruggerio dialing back the progressive wave?

By Justin Katz | December 23, 2021 |

Reading political tea leaves from interviews is an iffy game, but this feels like a bit of a tone change from Democrat Senate President Dominick Ruggerio: On the Rhode Island Report podcast, state Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio said he opposes raising the income tax rate for the richest Rhode Islanders, saying he fears they…