Political Thought
The State of the Union speech, as a practice, lost me long ago, during the presidency of Bill Clinton. His practice was a seemingly endless list of special-interest handouts that couldn’t possibly be funded. No new information emerged, and America wasn’t even receiving a useful indication of the administration’s intended direction. The event was performative…
Much has been debated about the effectiveness of the recently-defused Canadian Truckers Convoy. One thing is for certain, the collective efforts and voice of Canada’s trucking industry, galvanized by frustration over far more than vax mandates, essentially exposed the agenda of and brought to his knees the once powerful Justin Trudeau. Trudeau’s actions in refusing…
A very interesting article from Tamara Sacharczyk, of WJAR, puts a spotlight on an aspect of the people’s interaction with government that doesn’t get enough attention: lawsuits: Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent defending state agencies in Rhode Island in recent years, and the NBC 10 I-Team uncovered taxpayers are oftentimes picking up…
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — being a strategic attack disrupting a general atmosphere of peaceful exhaustion among European countries — has a cautionary component for analysts. While one can reasonably suggest that this or that factor is playing a role, strong assertions about the motivations and plans of the people involved are best avoided. That’s…
A “great reset” inevitably rewinds history to the point at which the supposed error was made, which means we’re in for challenging times, but with the opportunity for revival.
Whether I’ve been failing or succeeding, all these years, I’ll leave to others to judge, but one of my core objectives has always been to foster the habit of making the sorts of connections that are too often covered over for political reasons. Let’s look at a big one. Perhaps with the mixed motivation of…
Not long ago, technology was beginning to allow the blind to see. Beware the need for maintenance and software support: These three patients, and more than 350 other blind people around the world with Second Sight’s implants in their eyes, find themselves in a world in which the technology that transformed their lives is just…
Author and former Providence Journal opinion page editor Ed Achorn has been tweeting about the Canadian government’s move on banking, and the topic is one that ought to be of much more concern to all of us. Note this tweet, from Peter Sweden, which Achorn passes along with the comment, “If true, this is terrifying”: In Canada…
Jordan Peterson has shared a note from one of the organizers of the Ottawa protests: From BJ Dichter, one of the organizers of the Ottawa protest. If you don’t think this could happen to you or someone you love you’re a fool. He’s been made a nonperson. Without being charged or tried. Is this what…
Whether or not one agrees with Attorney General Peter Neronha’s decision to block a major merger of Rhode Island hospital companies, the fact that it wasn’t really a typical Rhode Island decision-making process cannot be denied. From that fact we can learn an important lesson. Personal integrity probably played a role, of course, but one…