Justin Katz

A man in a plague mask on a swing

Don’t let COVID-lockdown propaganda hide behind death numbers.

By Justin Katz | February 11, 2022 |

COVID-19 can be a nasty disease, even when it’s not a killer, which it most definitely can be.  The coronavirus is not, however, the only killer, and disease is not the only nasty thing that can happen to your life. As we look out across the landscape of continuing fear, ramped up to an irrational…

An old house next to a graveyard

How can anybody upset with discriminatory housing oppose total school choice?

By Justin Katz | February 10, 2022 |

Judy Schwalbach makes that connection explicit in a report on school choice policies and history in Washington, D.C.: During the 20th century, federally sanctioned housing “redlining” influenced the composition of neighborhoods in large cities across the country, including Washington, D.C. The term “redlining” came from the color-coded maps developed by the Home Owners Loan Corporation…

A water drop and ripples

The courts aren’t the right place for deciding JCLS controversies.

By Justin Katz | February 10, 2022 |

Don’t get me wrong.  RI House Minority Leader Blake Filippi is right to be pursuing his lawsuit against the Joint Committee of Legislative Services, which is undoubtedly a central hub of our legislature’s corruption.  But the judiciary isn’t where these disputes should have to be resolved.  Think about it: Filippi, the top Republican in the…

Colors in a bubble

Masks and truckers present a study in how the bubble of the Capitol forms.

By Justin Katz | February 10, 2022 |

I suspect they’re wildly overrepresented in the items that Twitter pushes onto my screen, but Rhode Island progressives are really something to behold in their reaction to Democrat Governor Dan McKee’s belated and overly hesitant removal of statewide mask mandates. As I suggested earlier, for many of the recognizable personalities, their rhetoric is probably wholly…

A water drop and ripples

That CDC masking poster is mostly propaganda.

By Justin Katz | February 10, 2022 |

Recently, Rhode Island Twitter has become a display of people who seem deranged with fear about the end of mask mandates.  It’s a curious puzzle. Some of the known progressives are probably responding to the movement’s understanding that keeping people depressed and isolated is in their ideological and political interests, and that surely filters out…

Microphone in front of a curtain

Beware what follows Bob.

By Justin Katz | February 9, 2022 |

Bob Walsh, who has been the executive director of the National Education Association of Rhode Island as long as many of us have been paying attention, or even been present in the state, has announced his impending retirement. Some on the conservative side are understandably happy to hear the news, but I’d caution a bit…

A masked figure shushes silence

Coming to the edge of permissible reality is an unnerving experience.

By Justin Katz | February 9, 2022 |

Is it possible to make it literally impossible for politically incorrect truths to be spoken?

Romeo and Juliet

Once you go deplorable, you’ll know that we’re adorable.

By Justin Katz | February 8, 2022 |

To begin with, let me apologize for the subject line.  Once it occurred to me, I couldn’t let it go. If you’re of a certain age, you may recognize the sexual undertones of the phrase, which I began thinking about after stumbling across a Twitter exchange between apparent progressive Liz Gledhill and known conservative Nicole…

The moon over a weathervane

Dr. Skoly coverage may be another indication that the narrative is changing.

By Justin Katz | February 8, 2022 |

Among the encouraging signs that are beginning to peak out of the COVID chill like early buds in spring is that coverage of Dr. Stephen Skoly’s lawsuit hasn’t been limited to the website of the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity, of which he’s chairman, and national conservative sites like The Daily Signal.  The Providence Journal…

A man with a full face medical mask

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Old Disguises Wearing Thin

By Justin Katz | February 7, 2022 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz talk about the ways in which people are beginning to see through Rhode Island insiders.