Justin Katz

Gustave Courbet's The Stormy Sea (The Wave)

Apocalyptic demands for funding are too cost free.

By Justin Katz | March 3, 2023 |

Sometimes the lack of response to statements — I mean just an ordinary, slightly skeptical response — is striking.  Here’s Warren Town Manager Kate Michaud asking the U.S. Senate to protect the town from an apocalyptic future: “The data analysis concluded that by the year 2100, three hundred and six of the area’s four hundred…

A mural on a highway bridge

Could it be that the status quo’s defenders just don’t get the economics?

By Justin Katz | March 2, 2023 |

University of Rhode Island Economics Professor Len Lardaro reminds us of the magic by which the state makes its employment numbers look good: To me, the apologists for the status quo are the scariest part. Saying, “Oh, don’t worry. People are just retiring,” completely misses the point. If Rhode Islanders are retiring, shouldn’t their jobs…

A person standing in a chasm.

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Gaps Appearing Throughout RI

By Justin Katz | February 28, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz run through holes in Rhode Island’s political scene and government operations.

A water drop and ripples

The Smithians do what Marxists promise, including on race.

By Justin Katz | February 23, 2023 |

For several reasons (voluntary and not-so-voluntary), I’ve been digging into Marxism a bit more over the past year.  I mean both ol’ Marx himself and his followers, up to modern practitioners.  One point that has come home very strongly is that the ideal that Marxists sell is actually the end toward which a system built…

A water drop and ripples

Well, David Cicilline leaving Congress this year will shake up RI politics a bit!

By Justin Katz | February 21, 2023 |

Politics is full of wildcards: Cicilline said he will resign from Congress effective June 1, 2023, to serve as the next president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation. “Serving the people of Rhode Island’s First Congressional District has been the honor of my lifetime. As President and CEO of one of the largest and…

A water drop and ripples

And we await the official statements about hate not being tolerated…

By Justin Katz | February 20, 2023 |

Let’s see how different the reaction is to this incident compared with vandalism targeting other religious groups.

Blue dragon of Roger Williams Park Carousel

Politics This Week with John DePetro: The Insider Job-Go-Round

By Justin Katz | February 20, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz check in on the insider operations of the RI State House, bureaucracy, and media.

Posters on a city wall

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Poster Children in RI Politics

By Justin Katz | February 15, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz go over the characters and controversies of state government in Rhode Island.

Potions and skull

Junk science in service of trans ideology is an assault on truth.

By Justin Katz | February 10, 2023 |

One of the ways in which our society has gotten to its current predicament is a combined corruption of and overreliance on science.  Contrary to those who treat it as a source of existential truth, science is merely a process for answering questions.  My preferred formulation is that it’s a way of coming to agreement…

Racial conflict fist as a green light

History suggests that now is the time to start speaking up in Rhode Island.

By Justin Katz | February 8, 2023 |

A broad review of history suggests that the time to stop a dangerous social or political trend is when the changes being implemented are relatively minor and the concerns are arguably still hypothetical.  At that stage, the general value of cooperation can overcome the preferences of this or that faction.  As the factions disregard the…