Civil Liberties

Obey Kim Jong-Un graffitti

The signs of tyranny are rising like the tide.

By Justin Katz | June 28, 2021 |

It’s long, but the conversation between Jordan Peterson and North Korean defector Yeonmi Park on the former’s podcast is well worth a listen. Most of the episode is a description of Park’s experiences as she transitioned from the national concentration camp of North Korea to sex slavery in China to despised minority in South Korea…

Silhouette over digital background

The FBI’s new surveillance techniques will eventually come for you.

By Justin Katz | June 25, 2021 |

Nobody should be upset that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies arrested hundreds of international gang members in the Trojan Shield operation, but everybody should concerned about the methods used toward that end.  Mike Corder of the Associated Press describes them: The seeds of the sting were sown when law enforcement agencies earlier took…

A "cancel culture" document in a typewriter

The Gaspee Project is moving RI’s donor disclosure law toward the U.S. Supreme Court.

By Justin Katz | June 19, 2021 |

According to Jerrick Adams, writing for Ballotpedia, a three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit heard oral arguments in the case on June 9.  Adams gives a good quick summary of the two fundamental arguments: The law in question (H7859, enacted in 2012) requires issue advocacy groups to disclose to the…

Family on the beach at sunset

Encouraging stable nuclear families would be a good place to start curbing violence.

By Justin Katz | June 12, 2021 |

Politicians always have time to figure out new ways to restrict explicit rights, like the right to bear arms guaranteed in the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  They spend considerably less time (if any at all) addressing the changes in our society that actually might reduce violence. Consider the following, from an Epoch Times commentary…

States with legislation to change emergency declarations

Rhode Islanders shouldn’t get used to state-of-emergency government all the time.

By Justin Katz | June 11, 2021 |

Yesterday, June 10, in the two-thousand and twenty-first year of our Lord, Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee, the first of his name, did sign and decree the “One Hundred and Sixty-Eighth Supplemental Emergency Declaration,” extending the state’s COVID-19 state of emergency for another month. As is typical, the declaration contains “whereas” clauses to offer information…

Dan McKee gets vaccinated

Rhode Island’s governor should stop pretending we’re still in an emergency.

By Justin Katz | June 1, 2021 |

From nearly the beginning of the pandemic, I’ve argued that Democrat Governor Gina Raimondo abused her authority by declaring an emergency in order to give herself enhance powers. The emergency provisions in Rhode Island law are meant to be used to manage a desperate circumstance in which there is no time to handle a situation…

Mark Zaccaria and shredded Constitution

Yes, parental rights do still apply in the era of COVID.

By Justin Katz | May 21, 2021 |

Mark Zaccaria hones in on a key question that seems like it’s been lost in the shuffle:  Can the state government and its subsidiaries selectively emancipate Rhode Island children from their parents for the purpose of deciding whether to be vaccinated against COVID-19? Hey, wasn’t it just a few years ago that the government was…

38 Special

RI at the leading edge of civil rights… when stopped from violating them.

By Justin Katz | May 18, 2021 |

You’d think it’d be a bigger deal locally that the Ocean State (Cranston, specifically) is at the center of a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision that police violated a resident’s Fourth Amendment rights by seizing his guns without a warrant.  Here’s the ruling on this obvious case.  Credit has to go to the ACLU for…

Mike Stenhouse and Michelle Cretella on In the Dugout

The vaccine is becoming a rolling stone with government weight behind its momentum.

By Justin Katz | May 7, 2021 |

Mike Stenhouse’s In the Dugout show, yesterday, took up the issues around COVID-19 vaccination from multiple directions, yesterday, including the concept of “vaccine shedding.”  For the conversation, Doctors Michelle Cretella and Andrew Bostom joined the show.  Stenhouse also touched on TCI, transgenderism, and other topics.

Mike Stenhouse and Roland Benjamin on In the Dugout

Everything from municipal debt to vaccination gets pushed through our schools.

By Justin Katz | May 5, 2021 |

Mike Stenhouse goes through the details, including a conversation with Roland Benjamin of South Kingstown, In the Dugout.