Ripple

A water drop and ripples

Our supply chain problems are more complicated than an easy fix will solve.

By Justin Katz | November 11, 2021 |

Stephen Green shares a truck driver’s explanation of just how slow the problem will be to solve.  Green sums up the problem well, with this: We’ve over-invested in red tape, under-invested in infrastructure, and taught at least two generations of young people that jobs like trucking are somehow beneath them. The government can try to…

A water drop and ripples

This is called “saying the quiet part out loud.”

By Justin Katz | November 10, 2021 |

In a healthy society, not only would this sort of statement be disqualifying, but a presidential administration would know not even to put such a nomination forward: Saule Omarova, Democrat President Joe Biden’s Marxist-friendly nominee to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, said earlier this year that she wants oil and gas…

A water drop and ripples

Reporters’ repeating PR language for government programs is a pet peeve of mine.

By Justin Katz | November 10, 2021 |

Note this closing paragraph, reported as fact, at the end of Melanie DaSivla’s WPRI report on Rhode Island officials’ glee at the anticipated influx of borrowed money for infrastructure from the federal government: The transformational legislation will also create millions of good-paying, union jobs across the country, reduce inflationary economic pressures, and ease supply chain…

A water drop and ripples

Bureaucratic relentlessness is no in the service of radical ends.

By Justin Katz | November 10, 2021 |

Stacy Langton, who went viral when she read from school library books at a school committee meeting (without censoring the material), has reportedly been banned from entering the library at her son’s school. At the same time, I’m hearing from parents in Rhode Island who seem surprised about the relentlessness of schools’ push to complete…

A water drop and ripples

Boston Globe plays the straight man for SNL.

By Justin Katz | November 9, 2021 |

I have to admit that I found Kenneth Singletary’s write-up for the Boston Globe about a Saturday Night Live skit involving Rhode Island to be more humorous than the skit itself: Singletary plays the straight man (that’s a comedy term, for the woke out there) with his straight-news report: Strong looks worried. The newscast continues.…

A water drop and ripples

I wonder if the increase in GOP registrations in Florida is homegrown or migratory.

By Justin Katz | November 9, 2021 |

Once upon a time, we were taught that the U.S.A. allowed states to experiment and compete with each other.  Under Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida sure does seem to be taking that opportunity to heart: “Authoritarian edicts from the Biden regime stop here,” [House Speaker Chris] Sprowls said. “The ‘Keep Florida Free’ agenda represents the strongest…

A water drop and ripples

Other countries respect science enough to recognize acquired immunity.

By Justin Katz | November 9, 2021 |

Germany, for example: Since the beginning of July in Germany, where that family lives, if you can demonstrate proof of being COVID-recovered and then have a subsequent negative COVID test, you are considered immune. For six months anyway, according to the German government. Jennifer Margulis’s Epoch Times article goes on to describe some of the research…

A water drop and ripples

For young children the risk of the vaccines could in fact be higher than for COVID.

By Justin Katz | November 8, 2021 |

Not that long ago, the expectation was that older folks would take on additional risk in order to reduce the risks to children.  As with much else, this principle appears to have inverted with COVID.  Thus, I’ve got to say that I’m pretty much on the same page as Paul Alexander: Why vaccinate our children…

A water drop and ripples

The RI School Committee Association is emblematic of the RI establishment.

By Justin Katz | November 8, 2021 |

I’ve said it again and again over the years:  Rhode Island government is structured such that the state is the center of everything, and various committees, associations, chambers, and other organizations that people think represent the interests of various segments of civil society do not.  They are there to represent the state government’s interests to…

A water drop and ripples

Wendy Schiller may be the most aptly named political science professor in the country.

By Justin Katz | November 8, 2021 |

If her analysis in the news is essentially Democrat spin, what does she teach in the classroom? Schiller also said Biden brings a restoration of “stability” and “predictability” to the presidency: “He seems to me to have a moral fortitude where he is really certain that what he’s trying to do is the right thing…