Ripple

A water drop and ripples

At some point, maybe URI’s president will do something that makes me more-proud of my alma mater, rather than less.

By Justin Katz | December 10, 2021 |

There he is again.  Marc Parlange is in the Boston Globe stumping for the Democrats’ biggest legislative priority with “Build Back Better can pull Rhode Island out of the pandemic — if we invest in the Blue Economy.” Why did the University of Rhode Island hire a lobbyist and ideologue instead of a leader? Yeah, sure, the…

A water drop and ripples

Yup, the United States is still a beacon of hope… for now.

By Justin Katz | December 10, 2021 |

Robert VerBruggen’s response is perfect to a chart showing how the average disposable income in most European countries is poverty by U.S. standards: This is why people love using “relative” poverty measures. It’s basically dividing by how awesome America is, to make America look un-awesome. The mind-blowing thing is that most European countries could easily…

A water drop and ripples

Transgenderism sometimes seems conveniently to reinforce male norms.

By Justin Katz | December 9, 2021 |

Back in October, a report from the BBC caught the attention of the trans movement because it conveyed the experience of lesbians who’d felt pressured into straight sex with trans-women (i.e., men presenting themselves as women): One woman described her dates with trans-women as conversion therapy: “I knew I wasn’t attracted to them but internalised…

A water drop and ripples

Biden is what having a president who is a foreign asset would actually look like.

By Justin Katz | December 9, 2021 |

Back when Democrats and members of the media who once had credibility were insisting that President Donald Trump was a foreign asset (that is, doing the bidding of another country’s rulers), wiser people looked at what he was doing.  Like him or not, he was strengthening the United States as a country and limiting the…

A water drop and ripples

The rules are different for Democrats.

By Justin Katz | December 9, 2021 |

Now that she’s been confirmed as the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, interest has surged in a video of her berating journalists outside her house while she was still a county district attorney back in January.  The bullying and defensiveness are noteworthy, of course.  It takes a certain personality type to tell a reporter she’s going…

A water drop and ripples

More audience-guilting, this time from an NPR host.

By Justin Katz | December 8, 2021 |

Without making too much of it, I thought this was interesting.  NPR host Sam Sanders received a letter from listener saying he (Sanders) is distracting in the amount that he “grunts and murmurs (‘Uh!’, ‘Mmm…’, ‘Ahhh…’) when a guest is speaking.”  Perhaps because the letter writer went a bit far in likening it to the…

A water drop and ripples

Canceling a police training academy’s classes shows how crazy we’ve gone.

By Justin Katz | December 8, 2021 |

Canceling the remaining classes among a group of presumably very fit police candidates because one person with symptoms and six people without symptoms tested positive for COVID shows how crazy and weak we’ve become. We’re going to be paying for this recent shift in attitudes for decades, and one suspects the people pushing it expect…

A water drop and ripples

Who knew elected officials’ constituents were literally chickens?

By Justin Katz | December 8, 2021 |

I’m torn between assuming that chickens must have really strong lobbyists and thinking voters need to begin questioning the priorities of the people they’re putting in office: Neighboring states soon could see an influx of shoppers in search of eggs if Massachusetts lawmakers don’t come to an agreement on a new animal welfare law. New…

A water drop and ripples

Musk does walk the walk (a good part of the way).

By Justin Katz | December 7, 2021 |

In case you’re wondering (like I did) whether Elon Musk walks the walk he’s talking here, he does: “I think one of the biggest risks to civilization is the low birthrate and the rapidly declining birthrate,” Musk explained on Monday evening, as recorded by the New York Post. “And yet, so many people, including smart…

A water drop and ripples

Unions like choices, but only for their own members.

By Justin Katz | December 7, 2021 |

Here’s an interesting take on a policy that’s apparently new to South Kingstown: A local chapter of the nation’s largest teachers union has acknowledged the importance of school choice, at least for its own members. Thanks to an agreement quietly reached between the South Kingstown, Rhode Island, chapter of the National Education Association and the…