Civil Liberties

Vaccine freedom protest blocked at State House door

Another way COVID sets the stage for government restrictions of rights.

By Justin Katz | September 3, 2021 |

On Monday, Providence Journal political reporter Katherine Gregg tweeted that people protesting in favor of vaccine freedom for healthcare workers were trying to “storm” the State House.  Unfortunately, it appears that she has deleted that tweet, but this short video and a slightly longer one associated with her official report remain the only evidence that she…

A water drop and ripples

Vaccine resistant COVID variants highlight the need to secure our rights now.

By Justin Katz | September 3, 2021 |

At least, that’s my reaction upon seeing this on NewsMax: The World Health Organization says it is monitoring a new vaccine-resistant variant of COVID-19 called “mu” that appears to be rising in Colombia. Even putting aside claims, like that of Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche at the end of the article, that our mass vaccination program is…

Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt's Facebook page

Wait… the people of Woonsocket are paying for Baldelli-Hunt’s First Amendment transgression?

By Justin Katz | September 2, 2021 |

The Valley Breeze reports the conclusion of a controversy in Woonsocket mentioned in this space a month ago. Democrat Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt has settled a lawsuit that the ACLU of Rhode Island brought against her for blocking people on a Facebook page that she was clearly using for official (which is to say, public) purposes. …

Handcuffed resist fists

McKee takes a step toward lockdowns with new “quarantine and isolation executive order.”

By Justin Katz | September 2, 2021 |

Frankly, I intend to ignore Democrat Governor Dan McKee’s latest executive order, issued late yesterday, and make informed decisions for my own health and those with whom I come into contact.  All five of the “whereas” clauses — which are supposed to explain and justify this sort of resolution — are purely generic.  There is…

A water drop and ripples

The harmony between the ATF and the Taliban is discomfiting.

By Justin Katz | August 28, 2021 |

Contrast this news from the American Rifleman: In June, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) published a notice of proposed rulemaking that would make nearly all firearms configured with a pistol stabilizing brace subject to the National Firearms Act, requiring taxation and registration of millions of lawfully acquired firearms. The proposal represents a…

A water drop and ripples

How can a free country force doctors to perform procedures they find morally wrong?

By Justin Katz | August 28, 2021 |

Matt Hadro reports for the Catholic News Agency: The Catholic Medical Association has joined a lawsuit against a Biden administration rule that it says tramples the conscience rights of doctors opposed to gender-transitioning procedures. In May, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a notice effectively reinstating the “transgender mandate,” requiring doctors to perform…

Gustave Courbet's The Stormy Sea (The Wave)

Politics This Week with John DePetro: A Storm of Bias

By Justin Katz | August 23, 2021 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the ways in which the movers and shakers in RI avoid things everybody knows.

A man in a plague mask on a swing

We must demand more from Governor McKee as he grabs power.

By Justin Katz | August 20, 2021 |

If this is all it takes for the governor to declare “a new state of emergency,” we’re in deep, deep trouble.  We may never, ever be in a state of non-emergency ever again. Enough is enough. No real argument is made.  No sources are cited (only vaguely referenced).  No legal authority is defended.  Any deliberation…

A more-descriptive restroom sign

Thanks to McKee and the General Assembly, 2021 is the year Rhode Islanders lost religious freedom.

By Justin Katz | August 6, 2021 |

The amazing thing, when government officials establish a religion, is that everything becomes clear and easy.  Through a clerisy, their god (even if it is an undefined Great Progressive Spirit) tells them what is right and wrong, and they simply conform the law to those requirements.  Anybody who believes differently has to put their beliefs…

Newport Superior Court

Our legal system has developed a systematized path to eliminate our right to self governance.

By Justin Katz | August 3, 2021 |

At the core of our very ability to call our system a “representative democracy” is that we write down rules by which we all must abide.  New rules can be implemented and old rules can be repealed or amended, but the more fundamental it is, the more difficult it is to change.  Thus, bureaucrats can…