Political Thought

Norman Rockwell Freedom of Speech

Politics This Week: Failures of Representation

By Justin Katz | June 7, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz review ways in which the RI elite fail to represent the people.

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence march in Washington, D.C. in 1993

The Dodgers’ disinvitation of a queer anti-Catholic hate group clarifies the cultural stakes.

By Justin Katz | May 19, 2023 |

Presentation of an anti-Catholic hate group as a charity, sartorial evangelism after a school shooting, and taxpayer-funded abortions are warnings of a tightening totalitarian grip on the United States.

Goya Attended by Doctor

Watch the inversion from their responsibility to care for you to your responsibility to die for them.

By Justin Katz | May 16, 2023 |

In recent conversation with Tim Ferriss, Canadian writer-explorer Wade Davis took a slight detour to speak of the community benefits of Canada’s socialized healthcare system: It has everything to do with social solidarity. It has everything to do with every Canadian knowing that they belong, and knowing that if their kid gets sick, they will…

A mother spoon-feeds her adult son

Politics This Week: Rhode Islanders Admit Mommy Government Knows Best

By Justin Katz | May 15, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the ways in which Rhode Island is sliding into full dependency.

Lighthouse on Goat Island at sunset with Newport Bridge in the background.

Newport’s character and cost is a matter of choice.

By Justin Katz | April 28, 2023 |

Artsy people’s complaining about gauche wealth-culture is nothing new, but something about this complaint by progressive podcaster and musician Bill Bartholomew struck me as oblivious of the obvious: Working late on Friday to frame out a roof on Ocean Drive 15 years ago, while watching BMWs roll by, I had similar thoughts.  But I also…

An indoor self-storage facility.

Think more deeply about self-storage bans.

By Justin Katz | April 21, 2023 |

Justin Roias — the Providence City Councilor for the ward covering the North End — doesn’t like self-storage facilities. That’s fine, but his response and reasoning raise crucial points of organization and problem solving: I came across Roias’s tweet via Rachel Miller, who is participating in “the effort to update our zoning laws to prohibit…

1 plus 1 equals 3 with young man on smartphone in background.

Politics This Week: Education and Agendas

By Justin Katz | April 18, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz walk through how the effects of today’s education, or lack thereof, are trickling through all facets of society.

A masked figure shushes silence

Bud Light has provided a warning case for our culture.

By Justin Katz | April 14, 2023 |

If you pay attention to non-leftwing media and/or haven’t blocked or muted anybody who isn’t progressive on social media, you’re likely to have heard that Anheuser-Busch has taken a huge financial hit after a young marketing executive aligned the company fully with radical gender ideologues by partnering with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, a man whose…

A water drop and ripples

The Vermont homeless shelter killing cuts across narrative lines.

By Justin Katz | April 12, 2023 |

As we’re rightly reminded frequently in the face of such incidents, we would err if we overgeneralized from incidents like this one: A homeless woman “was wiping blood off of her hands with a paper towel” after she allegedly killed a homeless shelter coordinator with an ax, police said. Zaaina Asra Zakirrah Mahvish-Jammeh, a 38-year-old…

Providence, Rhode Island, USA park and skyline.

Politics This Week: Blame, Budgets, and Bailouts

By Justin Katz | April 3, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz walk through the latest comedies in Rhode Island politics and discuss the characters who have been stealing the spotlight.