Written

Mail ballot envelope

If there was insignificant fraud, election audits would clear the air, wouldn’t they?

By Justin Katz | June 9, 2021 |

Curiously, for all the national news that makes its way into Rhode Island–based media, stories like this, from Paul Sperry of RealClearInvestigations, don’t seem to get much airing: When Fulton County, Ga., poll manager Suzi Voyles sorted through a large stack of mail-in ballots last November, she noticed an alarmingly odd pattern of uniformity in the markings…

Ninny Nothin anti-Christian Sacred Heart

We now return to the promotion of drag queens to children at libraries.

By Justin Katz | June 9, 2021 |

One of the silver linings of having most of the more-progressive precincts of the nation shut down (a silver lining more than offset by the rest of the storm, of course) was that it limited progressives’ access to other people’s children.  Thus, controversies over drag queen story hours were limited to related incidents, like the…

A lighted brain sculpture

Maybe there are non-medical ways to address mental deterioration.

By Justin Katz | June 8, 2021 |

In the midst of a public health debates that seem to have become stuck in the ruts of political battles, it’s nice to be reminded of the advances that are being made.  Glenn Reynolds highlights one example from the City University of New York (CUNY) Advanced Science Research Center: Recent studies suggest that new brain…

A man fuels his car

TCI is another area where our politicians are happy to be extremists to the detriment of Rhode Islanders.

By Justin Katz | June 8, 2021 |

Last week, an Australian news source noted how extreme Rhode Island politicians are when it comes to imposing mandates on companies that serve our elderly parents and grandparents.  Connecticut just put a big ol’ circle around another area in which Ocean State politicians are extremists without concern for the average resident, as Douglas Hook reports…

A shush post at VisionLab

When Journalists Deride Requests for Public Access in Government

By Justin Katz | June 8, 2021 |

With their ideological bias, Rhode Island journalists don’t see themselves as aligned with those seeking public accountability regardless of worldview, but with the powerful seeking to impose their worldview on the powerless.

Upward line chart

Taxpayer/voter advocates across RI should prepare to track local budgets very closely.

By Justin Katz | June 8, 2021 |

Over on Tiverton Fact Check, I’ve posted an estimate of the extra revenue the town government may find flooding in over the next year: Along with the increasing cacophony of birds and fireworks, we know we must be well into spring in Tiverton as one hears the familiar calls of the town-government budgeters:  “Raise taxes. We…

Fire report

Is somebody trying to make the fire at the speaker’s law office go away?

By Justin Katz | June 8, 2021 |

John DePetro writes that he’s in communication with a federal officer who claims Rhode Island and Warwick fire officials have been providing misleading information: According to a Federal officer, the Rhode Island Fire Marshall’s office mislead Federal officials as to the suspicious fire May 11 at the law office of House Speaker Joe Shekarchi. The…

Sinking ship statue in a Providence park.

Competitive elections that avoid the downward spiral of radicalism have to be a decision of the voters.

By Justin Katz | June 7, 2021 |

A commentary piece by Richard Pildes, a Constitutional law professor at New York University, should resonate with Rhode Islanders: The dynamics and incentives for candidates running in competitive districts are dramatically different than those candidates face in safe districts. For competitive seats, candidates know they must win over enough voters in the center, who might…

The China Virus

Raimondo didn’t register for the Chinese Communists as they assessed American politics.

By Justin Katz | June 7, 2021 |

Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian’s Axios article on the efforts of a Chinese think tank connected with the Communist Party to analyze United States government at a more-fine level of detail than usual is more than a year old, but I hadn’t seen it: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo mentioned one of the reports in a Feb. 8 speech…

Nicole Solas on Fox & Friends

Nicole Solas only seems suspect from within Tara Granahan’s media bubble.

By Justin Katz | June 7, 2021 |

For twenty minutes of your time, Tara Granahan’s WPRO interview with the South Kingstown mother whom the local school committee nearly sued to stop her from seeking information about their ideological curriculum provides a short lesson in how Rhode Island insiders think. PODCAST: The @TaraGranahan interview with Nicole Solas that everyone is talking about: https://t.co/ci0kpITtTG…