Ripple

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…

A water drop and ripples

They crush everything.

By Justin Katz | December 7, 2021 |

The very obscure reference of my subject line is to Jonathan Coulton’s song, “I Crush Everything.”  Spoiler alert:  It’s about a lonely sea monster that has banished itself to the bottom of the sea because everything it tries to get close to and hug it crushes. The chorus came to mind as I read Dennis…

A water drop and ripples

Whatever your politics, you simply must be on the lookout for nudges.

By Justin Katz | December 6, 2021 |

Wherever you look to find your bogeymen or whether you support some individual or organization or oppose it, modern society absolutely requires you to keep an eye out for the nudging that Joel Kotkin describes: Nudging grew out of research into behavioural economics, and was popularised in Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler’s 2008 book, Nudge.…

A water drop and ripples

We’re slipping off the tracks with COVID.

By Justin Katz | December 6, 2021 |

We’ve reached the point that an obvious, relatively mild head cold that peters away over a weekend can keep a child out of school for days.  Testing sites in Rhode Island are saying it can take up to 72 hours to get results from COVID tests.  Pharmacies are a day out for appointments, with who-knows-how-long…

A water drop and ripples

Omicron is starting to look like a natural vaccine!

By Justin Katz | December 6, 2021 |

At least that’s how some health professionals are seeing it: Dr. Omar Hamada on Dec. 1 said that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 may provide natural immunity without inducing severe illness, as the symptoms so far resemble more of a “mild, common cold” in South Africa. In an interview with NTD’s “Capitol Report,” the emergency…