Rhode Island Politics

An unkempt and overrun baseball stadium

The system we inherited doesn’t persist of its own accord.

By Justin Katz | January 10, 2024 |

News that the Rhode Island Republican Party is struggling to hit the qualification requirements to place any presidential candidates on the primary ballot points to a deep problem in our state’s political landscape.  This is true even if we put to the side (for now) rumors that some large number of signatures were inexplicably invalidated.…

Man with a knife sneaks up behind a Republican girl

Politics This Week: The Danger of Political Innocence

By Justin Katz | January 9, 2024 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz detail gaps in political awareness in RI.

A water drop and ripples

The government insider merry-go-round.

By Justin Katz | January 4, 2024 |

John DePetro and I discussed this a few weeks ago, but the topic is worth a short, written note, too, because the vignette presents too perfect a lesson: While tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders were stuck in traffic for upwards of three to four hours, Governor Dan McKee was attending a political fundraiser for…

Excited man awards Car of the Year to a clunker

Politics This Week: Superficial Successes and Status Markers

By Justin Katz | January 2, 2024 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz review some of the inauspicious indicators of Rhode Island’s political scene going into the new year.

A bridge on fire

Politics This Week: RI’s Bridge to Self Awareness

By Justin Katz | December 19, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz review the moments of clarity following the Washington Bridge fiasco.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Here’s the scary thought, Rhode Island.

By Justin Katz | December 13, 2023 |

Nobody on your political bench can do much better than what you’re seeing now. Democracy has produced the government you actually wanted for so long that the bill is coming due.  I wrote about the “Four Horsemen of Rhode Island’s Apocalypse” 15 years ago, and the situation’s only gotten worse as people not in the…

A young figure looks up the stairs in a shadowy building

The other day in RI, I saw the voters who weren’t there.

By Justin Katz | November 21, 2023 |

Mainstream ignorance of Rhode Island’s political opposition is a warning sign of an unhealthy and surreal political environment.

A man in a suit starts a fire against a government building

Politics This Week: RI Moves Further into Thugocracy

By Justin Katz | November 20, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the deteriorating civic structure of Rhode Island.

An electric car charging

Reality Pulls the Plug on Even a Modest EV Fleet Target

By Monique Chartier | September 25, 2023 |

Excellent work by Jim Hummel of the Hummel Report with this investigative report, published on the front page of yesterday’s Providence Journal, pertaining to a state mandate that 25% of its vehicles be electric; i.e., zero emission. The goal was to make one quarter of the state’s light duty vehicle fleet EV’s by 2025.  So…

Young adults play volleyball

Politics This Week: RI’s Shift to Democrat Intramurals

By Justin Katz | August 28, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the indications that RI has moved so far left we’re getting a preview of what those internecine battles look like.