Written

Vaccine freedom protest blocked at State House door

Another way COVID sets the stage for government restrictions of rights.

By Justin Katz | September 3, 2021 |

On Monday, Providence Journal political reporter Katherine Gregg tweeted that people protesting in favor of vaccine freedom for healthcare workers were trying to “storm” the State House.  Unfortunately, it appears that she has deleted that tweet, but this short video and a slightly longer one associated with her official report remain the only evidence that she…

A water drop and ripples

Vaccine resistant COVID variants highlight the need to secure our rights now.

By Justin Katz | September 3, 2021 |

At least, that’s my reaction upon seeing this on NewsMax: The World Health Organization says it is monitoring a new vaccine-resistant variant of COVID-19 called “mu” that appears to be rising in Colombia. Even putting aside claims, like that of Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche at the end of the article, that our mass vaccination program is…

A water drop and ripples

The U.S. Catholic Bishops can’t possibly deny the fact that Biden has excommunicated himself.

By Justin Katz | September 3, 2021 |

Seriously, at the level of clarity that Matt Hadro describes for the Catholic News Agency, any denial only compounds the scandal (see also Tim Pearce in the Daily Wire): President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a “whole-of-government” response to “ensure” abortion access in Texas, after the state’s pro-life law went into effect on Wednesday. In…

Fingers crossed

What are the mechanics of a school department lying to a student’s parents?

By Justin Katz | September 3, 2021 |

In the Valley Breeze, Erika Sanzi writes about a relatively recent practice of Rhode Island school districts that has bothered me since the state Department of Education injected it into our system some years ago:  the policy for teachers and school officials to deliberately lie to parents as the system helps a child to “transition” from…

A water drop and ripples

Engineers used “conservative” approach to build post-Katrina levees in New Orleans…

By Marc Comtois | September 3, 2021 |

…and it apparently paid off (relatively speaking).  As the saying goes, we’re all conservative when it comes to things we know about.  So, instead of calculating for a 100 year storm, which was the standard, they took New Orleans’ rather unique vulnerability into account, doubled some crucial numbers and got the defenses designed and built…

A water drop and ripples

A passing thought on critical race theory in education.

By Justin Katz | September 2, 2021 |

I’ll be writing about the details in an ongoing way, but for the moment, I had to pause and express an observation from reading some of the materials for embedding critical race theory (CRT) in education.  There are people with tremendous influence in the industry who are probably clinically psychotic and, in any event, should…

Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt's Facebook page

Wait… the people of Woonsocket are paying for Baldelli-Hunt’s First Amendment transgression?

By Justin Katz | September 2, 2021 |

The Valley Breeze reports the conclusion of a controversy in Woonsocket mentioned in this space a month ago. Democrat Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt has settled a lawsuit that the ACLU of Rhode Island brought against her for blocking people on a Facebook page that she was clearly using for official (which is to say, public) purposes. …

A water drop and ripples

Don’t expect much from newly awakened anti-Trumpers.

By Justin Katz | September 2, 2021 |

Glenn Reynolds posted on Instapundit some tweets from Meghan McCain saying she doesn’t recognize Biden as the man who “helped [her] through pain and grief.”  She worries for the near future of our country, saying, “this is just as chaotic as Trump, just in a different way.” She can say that again.  Trump’s term in office…

A water drop and ripples

While it can wait, the collapsed road in Portsmouth requires investigation.

By Justin Katz | September 2, 2021 |

John DePetro suggests that the collapsed road in Portsmouth due to flooding looks like the result of an earthquake.  Maybe it ought to cause a political earthquake. It looks to me like it follows a storm drain, which puts it in the ballpark of failed infrastructure.  This ought to be investigated to understand what happened…

Decapitated Jesus statue

Bishop Barron is right about the very notion of an “atheist chaplain.”

By Justin Katz | September 2, 2021 |

Joe Bukuras summarizes the controversy for the Catholic News Agency (paragraphs reordered): Last week the New York Times announced that Greg Epstein, an atheist and humanist chaplain at Harvard University, was unanimously elected as the “chief chaplain” of the Harvard Chaplains, the association of more than 40 chaplains serving Harvard students of various religious denominations. ……