Written

Kari MacRae TikTok video

A Hanover math and business teacher was fired for not adhering to the state religion.

By Justin Katz | October 12, 2021 |

Last week, a post in this space juxtaposed Roger Williams University’s requirement that new hires model woke values in their off-campus lives with a federal ruling that Catholic schools cannot have a similar requirement for their employees and their values.  This week, Jeff Reynolds brings news on Legal Insurrection that a teacher of math and business…

A water drop and ripples

Connecticut provides a fantastic case study in a state moving progressive on taxation…

By Justin Katz | October 11, 2021 |

… too bad it’s not studied more.  (Maybe because academics know what they’ll find.)  Anyway, it now takes the most-taxed award: Connecticut received the dubious honor on Sept. 29 of displacing New Jersey as the state with the highest taxpayer burden, according to a new “Financial State of the States” report from Truth-in-Accounting (TIA). Illinois,…

Policeman

A fundamental point must be made about low police recruitment in RI.

By Justin Katz | October 11, 2021 |

Laura Damon provides some of the reasons, in a Newport Daily News article, why police departments on Aquidneck Island may be having a hard time finding police officers: This year, calls for applications to join the Newport Police Department yielded a significantly lower turnout than years past. … “First of all, we have a lot of highly…

A water drop and ripples

RI’s DOH Medical Director James McDonald gets COVID messaging for the holidays right.

By Justin Katz | October 11, 2021 |

This is how the messaging should have been for COVID and the vaccine for a long time: The holiday season fast approaching, and R.I. Department of Health Medical Director Dr. James McDonald is expecting the celebrations to look like they did prior to the pandemic. “I’m not planning on a virtual Thanksgiving or Christmas this…

Gavel with a speech bubble

Courts don’t settle science; they settle the law, and they’re settling it against the rights of the people.

By Justin Katz | October 11, 2021 |

This is an ominous development, reported by Jack Phillips for The Epoch Times: A federal judge on Oct. 8 denied a request to block Michigan State University’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate on the basis of natural immunity. An employee at the school, Jeanna Norris, filed a lawsuit against the mandate and asked a judge to intervene on…

A water drop and ripples

Leftism makes things worse in such a way as to leave people not knowing what they’re missing.

By Justin Katz | October 11, 2021 |

That’s a conclusion that leaps off the page of Stacey Matthews’s roundup of info on New York City’s ban on gifted & talented programs for children.  First, consider a tweet from New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz: It really is leftism in action. They could not make the bad schools better so they’ll make the…

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…

A water drop and ripples

Shocking night of Hollywood discoveries for me…

By Justin Katz | October 9, 2021 |

Not only did I learn that actor Clint Howard is the brother of Richie Cunningham, but also that he isn’t the same person as Curtis Armstrong. Just when you think you’ve got a grip on reality…

Reporters taking notes

UPDATED: The RI news media would rather throw shade at John DePetro than inform Rhode Islanders.

By Justin Katz | October 9, 2021 |

Understanding that not everybody has a degree in journalism, let’s try a quick quiz. You’re a journalist with a mainstream news organization covering the Ocean State. A protest outside the governor’s house sees some modest action when two participants are arrested. One local freelance journalist captured the entire thing on camera and the video on his…

Arrest of Tyler Bonin

The State Police disparate treatment of anti-mandate protesters; out-of-uniform officer prompts conflict.

By Justin Katz | October 9, 2021 |

From the very beginning of John DePetro’s coverage of last night’s protest at Democrat Governor Dan McKee’s house, it was clear the treatment of healthcare professionals who are protesting the governor’s vaccination mandate was going to be very different from what we’ve witnessed for Black Lives Matter and other progressive groups. Remember when Black Lives…