Wokism

The Carmagnole (Dance Around the Guillotine) by Kathe Kollwitz

URI is helping a powerful celebrity destroy the life of one of its students.

By Justin Katz | October 19, 2021 |

It’s never an easy call to side with people on principled grounds when you vehemently disagree with something mind-blowingly stupid and offensive they’ve done or said, especially in an environment prone to witch hunts and cancellations.  But that’s the sort of thing principled people have to do in a free society. So, I have no…

A dark classroom

At least the Wall Street Journal is supporting Bessinger against the “education horror show.”

By Justin Katz | October 15, 2021 |

Yesterday, I wondered why the plight and complaints of Providence middle school teacher Ramona Bessinger weren’t of more concern to teachers, parents, the community, the union, and Rhode Islanders generally.  Today, the Wall Street Journal editorial board has proven that somebody actually cares, giving their editorial the sharp headline, “Education Horror Show, Continued.”  (Search the headline…

Theodor Aman's The Battle With Torches

Hate on Patrick Conley Exposes Progressives’ Need to Dominate

By Justin Katz | October 13, 2021 |

Phil Eil’s attack on RI Historian Laureate Patrick Conley is not the perspective of a tolerant person; it is the voice of an ideological movement that seizes power through division and dishonest appeals to fairness and then crushes all dissent the moment it thinks it has succeeded.

Dan McKee cuts a ribbon

Politics This Week with John DePetro: The Flustering McKee

By Justin Katz | October 12, 2021 |

John and Justin discuss ways in which the controversies of the day illustrate a surprising (and disappointing) tendency of the McKee administration.

Classroom scene in The Mortal Storm

The mortal storm swells in the West, again.

By Justin Katz | October 11, 2021 |

Looking to cross a movie off my never-shrinking “to watch” list, last night — preferably with something inspiring and relevant to the holiday — I watched The Mortal Storm.  Perhaps in counterintuitive ways, it fit the evening well.  Indeed, this may be a movie for our times. Released in 1940, as Nazi Germany made its way across…

Pawtucket William Blackstone statue

WPRI promotes division, declaring a new holiday in solidarity with progressives.

By Justin Katz | October 8, 2021 |

Don’t bother looking on your calendar as you attempt to interpret this headline on an Eli Sherman article on WPRI: William Blackstone statue rally planned for Indigenous Peoples Day in Pawtucket By “Indigenous Peoples Day,” WPRI means Columbus Day.  It’s just that radicals looking to divide our nation have been insisting we change the name of…

A water drop and ripples

The Cultural Revolution comes to UMass Amherst.

By Justin Katz | October 7, 2021 |

It’s not a good sign when vague, anonymous allegations on the Internet against an unnamed member of a group lead to violent attacks on that group’s residence: Recent online sexual assault allegations against Theta Chi at the University of Massachusetts Amherst resulted in raucous protests that included flipping a car and injuring a member of…

Scene from The Handmaid's Tale

What’s RI progressives’ problem with independently thinking women?

By Justin Katz | October 7, 2021 |

Patrick Anderson is reporting in the Providence Journal that another woman involved with the Rhode Island Political Cooperative is being made to answer for having shared something on Facebook that strays from the dogmatic progressive line.  Actually “reporting” is probably not the correct verb.  As far as one can tell from the article, Anderson is the one…

Roger Williams: Non-Woke Need Not Apply

Roger Williams University’s Woke-Allegiance Pledge for Employment

By Justin Katz | October 4, 2021 |

Interested in a job with Roger Williams University as a prep cook, payroll specialist, baker, shuttle driver, retailer, plumber, or even sometimes-nude model for art students?  You might want to find yourself a woke consultant, because applications for all of these positions must include a cover letter with “information about how you would be able…

Esther accuses Haman

North Smithfield teachers model tyranny when demanding action against the political speech of parents.

By Justin Katz | September 28, 2021 |

Something doesn’t sit quite right in this story out of North Smithfield, as reported by Lauren Clem in the Valley Breeze.   Danielle Ferguson, a parent of a high school student there, spoke at a school committee meeting in opposition to mask mandates.  She suggested that the government “wants everyone to be fearful so that they can…