Justin Katz

A water drop and ripples

Penelope Barrel Strength bourbon is really, really good.

By Justin Katz | January 3, 2022 |

In fact, in my admittedly short experience with whiskeys, it may be my favorite of any style.  (Subject to revision, of course!)

Silhouette of hikers with leader

Politics This Week with John DePetro: A Little Leadership Would Go a Long Way

By Justin Katz | January 3, 2022 |

John and Justin cover the controversial topics in Rhode Island politics today.

A water drop and ripples

Inflation would be an interesting challenge, if it were just a model experiment.

By Justin Katz | January 3, 2022 |

Ryan Rappa thinks the Fed is going to have to make debt relief part of any plan to control inflation.  Actually, I should specify that whoever wrote his commentary’s headline thinks that, because Rappa’s essay mainly just ruminates about the problem.  The closest he comes is this: This risk is multiplied by other forms of…

Man in PPE

The state says hospitalizations with, but not for, COVID are a minority.

By Justin Katz | January 3, 2022 |

Following up on a question I sent to the state Department of Health, spokesman Joseph Wendelken tells me that instances of people being hospitalized while testing positive for COVID, but for whom COVID is entirely unrelated to the reason they’re in the hospital, account for only about 6% of the number. The question gained increased…

A water drop and ripples

Why can we not take the obvious approach to COVID?

By Justin Katz | January 3, 2022 |

Thinking about Governor McKee’s (let’s just say) uninspiring leadership on COVID in preparation for my weekly conversation with John DePetro, I wondered why we can’t just follow the obvious path of sanity. Never in my life have I heard so many people talking about believing science and engaging with concepts of risk and mitigation, but…

A water drop and ripples

A state has to have priorities!

By Justin Katz | January 3, 2022 |

As the editor of the Rhode Report puts it while linking to this story, “This is what is important to the morons of the Democrat Party”: As of January 1, restaurants across Rhode Island are no longer allowed to give out single-use plastic straws unless a customer asks for one. Violators will get warnings for…

A water drop and ripples

Who doesn’t want New England to be warmer?

By Justin Katz | January 1, 2022 |

Most people with whom one speaks on an unseasonably warm winter’s day in New England will not express despair.  There’s a reason defenders of the status quo bring up weather as an alternative reason to taxes and regulations for why people leave the region. Of course, every development can have its dark lining if that’s…

A man picks a path in the woods

What’s in an “alt-right”?

By Justin Katz | January 1, 2022 |

Even as long ago as the late ’90s, when I finished up my undergraduate studies, the seeds of cancel culture were visible.  Contrarian that I am, I would often challenge professors’ and other students’ arguments in classes that fostered debate, and some disputants were clearly looking for excuses to invalidate my case out of hand. …

Family on the beach at sunset

Imagine If We Were Able to Analyze What’s Really Going on With Inequality!

By Justin Katz | December 31, 2021 |

Rather than focusing on racial differences and calling each other names, we should be working together to spread the wealth around naturally, through our ingenuity and hard work.  All of us would benefit. Oh, well.  Maybe in 2022.

A water drop and ripples

The restrictions are the point.

By Justin Katz | December 30, 2021 |

I’ve suggested repeatedly that the motivation for the heavy government hand on COVID in states like Rhode Island isn’t a practical reaction to the virus so much as an emotional need to know that the government can tell people to do things when it wants.  Ben Shapiro has a similar point of view: So, why pursue…