Justin Katz

A water drop and ripples

I’ve finally written another Dust in the Light essay.

By Justin Katz | July 12, 2022 |

My pace of writing for these essays is much slower than my usual.  In part, the reason is that my 2022 has simply been busier than I expected, and I haven’t been able to manage my Dust in the Light allotment of time every week.  In bigger part, however, the reason is that, as clear as…

Sign reading Privilege Is Invisible to Those Who Have It

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Democrat Privilege in RI

By Justin Katz | July 11, 2022 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the many ways Rhode Island Democrats are flaunting their privilege.

A water drop and ripples

“The Way Young Lovers Do”…

By Justin Katz | July 10, 2022 |

… on Astral Weeks by Van Morrison has to be one of the greatest tracks ever recorded

A blindfolded man disintegrating

The rights that are really in danger are freedom of speech and association.

By Justin Katz | July 9, 2022 |

Have Rhode Islanders asked themselves how far they’re willing to let government go prosecuting (or persecuting) political groups that they find objectionable?

A water drop and ripples

A random thought on Billy Joel…

By Justin Katz | July 8, 2022 |

I listened to so much Billy Joel as a tween and teen that one could almost say he was something of a father figure for me (hey, don’t judge).  One of his songs just came up on my shuffle, inspiring me to check in BillyJoel.com, which I haven’t visited in years.  With a few exceptions,…

RI schools by spending and outcomes

They’re scamming us when they talk about money in education.

By Justin Katz | July 8, 2022 |

On the periodic occasions that one sees headlines in Rhode Island about improving education, the focus is almost invariably money, whether the topic is an adjustment to the state funding formula or about a “right to an education,” by which advocates ultimately mean a right to more tax dollars. But take a look at the…

Monkey hear no, see no, speak no evil statues

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Polls, Cynical Politics, and McMentum

By Justin Katz | July 5, 2022 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz take the temperature of Rhode Island politics.

The mob tackles Jeann Lugo

Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements is shameless in executing injustice against Jeann Lugo.

By Justin Katz | July 1, 2022 |

From the beginning, the likelihood that Providence police officer Jeann Lugo would receive a fair hearing was vanishingly small.  His political views conflict with those of the ruling class in Rhode Island, and he therefore does not enjoy basic rules of justice and due process. How egregiously brazen this injustice can be is shocking, nonetheless. …

A wind farm at sea

Folks, “100% renewable” targets are a scam.

By Justin Katz | June 30, 2022 |

The politicians and activists proclaim their value and the news media echoes those claims, but that doesn’t mean legal mandates for “renewable energy” are anything other than a scam to take money from Rhode Islanders and give it to special interests.  (Same old same old in Rhode Island, I know.).  And so, we get headlines…

Surveillance cameras on a pole

How exactly will license-plate cameras prevent suicide on the Mount Hope Bridge?

By Justin Katz | June 29, 2022 |

Oddly, that’s a question Melanie DaSilva doesn’t manage to answer in her WPRI article about the plans of local police to put license plate recognition cameras on both sides of the bridge that connects Portsmouth and Bristol.  It’s almost as if a paragraph is missing: [Investigating criminal activity is] not what [the cameras will] be…