Written

A teacher at the blackboard in a cage

Freeing teachers means freeing them from an inapt industrial employment model.

By Justin Katz | March 27, 2024 |

Brandon Busteed’s argument in Forbes well taken: U.S. teachers are dead last among all occupational groups and professions in feeling their opinions count at work, that their supervisor creates an open and trusting environment and that they are treated with respect each day. Teachers are also the highest of all professions in experiencing burn-out and…

A farmer in a suit admires his corn with graduation caps

Student loans are another crisis for the benefit of government.

By Justin Katz | March 20, 2024 |

Whatever one’s political leanings, the incentives of government must be understood as simply reality.  Government agencies don’t have to create a product or service that people will voluntarily purchase.  Rather, they must find activities for which they can justify forcing people who are not the direct beneficiaries to pay.  This model is justified, in some…

A water drop and ripples

Maybe mental illness isn’t the cause of progressivism.

By Justin Katz | March 14, 2024 |

This is an interesting bit of data, and Frank Fleming’s response is humorous, but a question of causation and another bit of information are relevant: The bit of information that’s missing is the percentage of each group who’s asked a healthcare provider to diagnose a mental health condition. No doubt, psychologists and psychiatrists could find something…

A water drop and ripples

No, RIPEC, funding isn’t the problem in RI infrastructure.

By Justin Katz | March 13, 2024 |

It’s hard to believe this is the conclusion of the CEO of the “business-backed” Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC): The state should consider alternatives pursued by other states like road usage charges, electric vehicle charging fees, increased registration fees for hybrid/electric vehicles, or tolls (especially if the state is unsuccessful in its appeal of…

A homeless mother pushes a baby carriage in Providence, RI

The details are the important part in the “housing crisis.”

By Justin Katz | March 13, 2024 |

By its nature, advocacy journalism glosses over the details that many would consider crucial.  Headlines from a pair of such articles by Katie Mulvaney in the Providence Journal illustrate the point: Six months pregnant with nowhere to go – an unhoused woman’s plight on RI’s streets After months of sleeping on the street, pregnant woman finally…

A water drop and ripples

What corruption might we find if we looked?

By Justin Katz | March 13, 2024 |

These stories come much too quickly to keep up, digest, and consider, but Mel’s review of Letitia James’s campaign finance reports a few weeks ago is worth a look: What might we find in RI, if we looked?

A water drop and ripples

Be great if we talked more about young’ns voting.

By Justin Katz | March 12, 2024 |

Letting 17-year-olds vote in primaries if they’ll be eligible to vote in the associated general elections is certainly reasonable, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t note a pair of conspicuous questions along the way. Firstly, why do Democrats seem always to want to expand voting toward the most manipulable constituencies? Secondly (and perhaps relatedly), why…

Street artist draws passing white people as MAGA

Journalists should be conspicuously fair, even with groups nobody likes.

By Justin Katz | March 12, 2024 |

In the last couple decades, Americans (at least those who occupy seats in academia and mainstream media) appear to have lost their ability to distinguish between upholding a principle and supporting any given people who might benefit from that principle from time to time.  Nobody likes to defend groups that are broadly deplored, like Nazis…

A water drop and ripples

Sometimes it’s the minor legislation (like weekly pay mandates) that is the most telling.

By Justin Katz | March 11, 2024 |

This legislation is hardly the most-pressing matter facing Rhode Island at the moment: Sen. Frank A. Ciccone III and Rep. Enrique George Sanchez are sponsoring legislation to require most businesses in Rhode Island to pay their employees weekly. Has either of these legislators ever had to make payroll for a business?  One suspects they simply…

A water drop and ripples

Vitalogy is a reminder of our need for adventure (at least for me).

By Justin Katz | March 6, 2024 |

Yesterday, I listened to Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy album all the way though for maybe the first time because it’s the 574th best-selling album, and I’m tracing that list from the top. The band’s prior recording, Vs., had been such a disappointment that I didn’t bother with its follow-up. Vs. came out while I was a…