National Politics

An old politician pardons his son with a magic wand

Politics This Week: Whom Do They Think They’re Kidding?

By Justin Katz | December 3, 2024 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz review political news from the state and nation.

A Republican cruise ship leaves a Democrat lifeboat behind

Politics This Week: RI Left Behind

By Justin Katz | November 12, 2024 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the prospects for the Ocean State after a full Republican sweep in D.C.

Old-time detective inspects a vote drop-box

Hold Up on Making Assumptions from 85% of the Popular Vote

By Marc Comtois | November 7, 2024 |

There is a Presidential popular vote chart getting a lot of attention out there that seems to show a big drop in Democratic votes from 2020 to 2024. However, as pointed out by Dan McLaughlin, I think people are getting over their skis before all of the data is in.  I thought a picture showing…

A water drop and ripples

We’re getting a clear picture of what we’ve let our country become.

By Justin Katz | November 4, 2024 |

Mark Steyn’s daily pre-election column is vintage Steyn today. But in Botswana everyone voted on Wednesday, the last up-country results came in on Thursday, the ruling party conceded and the new guy was sworn in on Friday. That’s a normal election in a normal country. Meanwhile, back in the greatest country in the history of…

Hasbro's haunted headquarters

Politics This Week: Where Rhode Island Used to Be

By Justin Katz | October 30, 2024 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz review signs of things going wrong in the Ocean State.

A water drop and ripples

Federal government data simply can no longer be taken at face value.

By Justin Katz | October 16, 2024 |

I realized this when watching Democrats’ repeated proclamations about jobs numbers during the Obama years only to see those numbers quietly revised the following month, almost always with the revision making touted jobs disappear, rather than quiet corrections representing improvements. Now, it seems crime data has the same partisan infection.  All year, we’ve been hearing…

Toys march out of the playroom

Politics This Week: Why Should They Stay?

By Justin Katz | September 23, 2024 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz check in on politics in RI.

A Democrat self-interviews

Politics This Week: The Primary Party

By Justin Katz | September 16, 2024 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the political news of the week.

A water drop and ripples

We have to take the reality of meddling billionaires into account.

By Justin Katz | September 14, 2024 |

Last night, I read a business case about a handful of billionaires who’ve been trying to make lab-grown meat a viable consumer product, and I wondered something tangential.  Imagine if a handful of billionaires decided they needed to have a pliable big-government progressive in the White House. They might flood her accounts with hundreds of…

A water drop and ripples

Here’s a partial standard for judging “they’ll end democracy” claims.

By Justin Katz | August 24, 2024 |

Whether you think Mark Smith’s reasoning here is dead-on, insane, or somewhere in between, an element is important to consider: Namely, he’s not just stating dislike and projecting an action, á la “Trump will end democracy.”  He’s offering actual policy steps by which Democrats could achieve that end. The same can’t be done in reverse…