Politics This Week

Gustave Courbet's The Stormy Sea (The Wave)

Politics This Week with John DePetro: A Storm of Bias

By Justin Katz | August 23, 2021 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the ways in which the movers and shakers in RI avoid things everybody knows.

RI House district map

Politics This Week with John DePetro: The Government We’ve Got

By Justin Katz | August 16, 2021 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the ways in which Rhode Island politicians are making things political that shouldn’t be, and not doing so for things that should be.

A locked luggage box

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Boxed in by the Past

By Justin Katz | August 9, 2021 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz take on unprecedented developments in RI government and politics.

A blurry streetscape

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Incompetent Optics

By Justin Katz | August 2, 2021 |

John and Justin talk about several ways in which Rhode Island’s political elite is trying to control how things appear (and what sort of politics the people are permitted to have).

A dog in the circus

Politics This Week with John DePetro: The Governing Circus

By Justin Katz | July 26, 2021 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz talk about the politics of the day, with things that should be easy proving difficult and things that would have to be difficult being passed off as easy.

Racial conflict fist as a green light

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Municipal and School Officials Build Toward Race War

By Justin Katz | July 20, 2021 |

Critical race theory is all the rage, and John DePetro and Justin Katz worry about RI government efforts to stoke it into conflict.

Don't Think, Don't Ask, Pay Tax, Vote for Us

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Politics Becomes All

By Justin Katz | July 13, 2021 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss how everything is becoming political narrative, not serving and protecting the people, in Rhode Island.

Multiracial hands on a table

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Story Tone Depends on Skin Tone

By Justin Katz | July 6, 2021 |

More and more, it appears that the way a story is covered by the media and addressed by government officials depends most on the skin color of the people involved, as John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss.

An underwater photo

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Growing Signs of Distrust

By Justin Katz | June 28, 2021 |

From a U.S. Senator to the news media to a local school committee, Rhode Islanders’ trust is slipping, but John DePetro and Justin Katz aren’t sure it’s enough to bring change.

Jorge Elorza speaks at a Pride event

Politics This Week with John DePetro: The Privileged in Rhode Island

By Justin Katz | June 21, 2021 |

This week, John and Justin discuss the special interests who get special privileges in the Ocean State.