Written

A water drop and ripples

Forced integration is not the way to solve segregated outcomes.

By Justin Katz | May 28, 2024 |

The problem at the heart of well-meaning progressive policies is that they tend to ignore second-order effects.  They want outcome X, so they push policy U and ignore that side-effects V and W also happen, and consequences Y and Z might not prove desirable.  Housing mandates, for example, require on their face that we cede…

Men debate in a trench during a battle

Thinking About National Unity on Memorial Day

By Justin Katz | May 27, 2024 |

The need for national unity on a landscape where it may be impossible leaves only few options and hard work on the table, but hope, nonetheless, if we take Memorial Day to heart.

Men shake hands in a dark alley

Freedom has no noncompete with propaganda.

By Justin Katz | May 23, 2024 |

Many people would likely see it as an obscure topic reported in a minor venue, but Christian Winthrop’s recent article in The Newport Buzz about the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) move against noncompete agreements hits three distinct notes that fire me up. The first is that it is unambiguous propaganda: In a landmark decision aimed…

A water drop and ripples

Don’t forget the importance of audience for mockery.

By Justin Katz | May 22, 2024 |

This video of some proverbial “frat bros” mocking some antifa clowns brought to mind Saul Alinsky’s encouragement toward mockery of the opponent: Preparation for conflicts is crucial, however.  The mockery worked because the antifa were outnumbered and in somebody else’s element.  Mockery is a group activity.  You must have a group.

A threatening nanny glowers with a switch

The assumption seems to be we’re all either children or slaves.

By Justin Katz | May 22, 2024 |

Civility and compassion are important traits we should, as a society, strive to inculcate in our children and uphold ourselves.  However, big-state nannyism has reached the point that well-meaning people no longer appreciate the distinction between how we should act as responsible people and what we should be forced or forbidden to do by an…

A water drop and ripples

A policy of “socially transitioning” children without their parents’ consent…

By Justin Katz | May 17, 2024 |

… leads me to the conclusion that whoever is controlling education policy wants young adults to be ignorant and emotionally unstable: I’m glad people are starting to pay attention, but I’m not optimistic anything can be done.  I couldn’t believe when this policy filtered down from the Obama administration a decade ago.  And I still can’t…

A water drop and ripples

Chanting murder in another language is cheating…

By Justin Katz | May 17, 2024 |

… but it’s illustrative, at MIT: I should note from the replies to the tweet that some people are contesting the translation, saying it’s “death to Zionism,” not “Zionists,” which supposedly makes all the difference.  On the other hand, some commenters say the chant references “Jews” in places where the translation says “Zionists.” I’m not…

Man jogging on a treadmill while on cell phone threatened by snake

When did life-optimizers become snowflakes?

By Justin Katz | May 16, 2024 |

A self-improvement celebrity’s partisan trigger warning provides a warning about the extent to which we’ve lost our civic heritage.

A water drop and ripples

I’m getting worried about how obvious it is our monetary system is largely fictional.

By Justin Katz | May 13, 2024 |

It’s bad enough that the Biden administration has convinced a generation of young Americans that tens of billions of dollars of their debt can just disappear with no effect because the debt didn’t really exist, anyway, but the Chair of Biden’s Council of Economic Advisor’s being unable to sound coherent when asked why the government borrows…

A water drop and ripples

This has been RI’s preferred budgeting method for the past 15 years.

By Justin Katz | May 13, 2024 |

They limp along hoping for a catastrophe that gives Democrats in Washington, D.C., an excuse to borrow waves of cash for one-time windfalls: It’s understandable that politicians and bureaucrats would incline this way, but it’s inexplicable that anybody continues to believe giving increasing amounts of power to people with these incentives and this history of…