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So suggests Hans von Spakovsky, reviewing some studies of apportionment and the effects of including non-citizens while calculating each state’s share of representation in Congress: In 2015, the Congressional Research Service did an analysis of how representation in the House would have changed after the 2010 Census if apportionment had been based on the 2013…
With GoLocalProv getting attention for having turned the spotlight on progressive Democrat U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse for his (allegedly) all-white beach club membership, somebody reminded me earlier today of a tweet I’d directed at him on May 22 (shown in the featured image for this post). He’d written, “Rising inequality is a threat to the American way…
The headline over Christian Winthrop’s Newport Buzz article shows how journalists absorb government spin: “Rhode Island General Assembly Passes Bill that Would Ban Gender Discrimination in Health Insurance Premiums.” The legislators aren’t attacking a “discriminatory practice known as gender rating,” as Winthrop writes, but denying actuarial science. Insurance premiums are higher for women because women cost more…
Watching local government is a great way to learn how politics really works and to observe how representative democracy can deteriorate into an exercise of raw power.
As my opening question hints, the support for legislation making Rhode Island the fifth state in the country to ban child marriage earlier this month was so uniform that it couldn’t help but excite my contrarian nature. Writing in Forbes, Ryan Sasse of UNICEF’s praise was particularly profuse: With the enactment of H5387/S398 on June 7,…
In fascinating juxtaposition to the excuse-making that progressive Democrat U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is enjoying, the folks from Direct Actions for Rights and Equality (DARE) marched in protest of money given to the Nonviolence Institute. Courtney Carter reported on it for WPRI: This week, [organizer Cedric] Russell co-released a public letter addressed to the institute,…
Conservatives and Republicans aren’t outraged at the nature of Bailey’s Beach Club or Sheldon Whitehouse’s membership in it. They’re using the controversy to bring attention to the cartoonish hypocrisy of progressives and Democrats. It’s really that simple, and everybody knows it. So, when Democrat activist Devin Driscoll lauds a Ted Nesi article on WPRI as…
Continuing to dig into the shady (yet, completely ordinary) behind-the-scenes maneuvers of Rhode Island’s governing class when it comes to South Kingstown Schools’ fight with local mom Nicole Solas, William Jacobson of Legal Insurrection reports that the Rhode Island School Superintendents Association (RISSA) is working to reduce Rhode Islanders access to public information by changing the Access…
For years, I’ve presented the history and condition of Lawrence, Massachusetts, as an example that Rhode Island shouldn’t follow — namely, becoming a place that seeks to import clients for government services for which local, state, and federal taxpayers can be billed. Given that recurring theme, I bookmarked this press release from the U.S. Attorney’s…
There is a reasonable case to be made on safety grounds to have people who are in the country illegally take steps to follow some laws, like those around driving vehicles. If the federal government isn’t doing its job, the argument would go, states have to find ways to address the many problems that arise…