Written

A gas shortage starts in South Carolina

The ’70s are coming! The ’70s are coming!

By Justin Katz | May 11, 2021 |

I’m just a hair too young to remember car lines for gasoline in the 1970s, but I do remember my parents explaining to me why cars’ gas fill lines had to be unlatched from inside the car.  (For younger folks:  because gas was so rare and important that people were siphoning it out of cars…

This Is A Sign church sign

Your responsibility starts with things you can control.

By Justin Katz | May 10, 2021 |

That simple truism, which buzzed around my ears as I mowed the lawn this weekend, holds in politics, in family, in religion… in life. I was catching up on various podcasts from recent weeks, and as I began to feel my mental muscles tensing up to battle a global conspiracy seeking a “Great Reset,” I…

Whiteboard from Make It Happen

“Participatory budgeting” is another wonky idea to avoid.

By Justin Katz | May 10, 2021 |

The Providence Journal recently published a multi-author op-ed on the idea, written by civic engagement “consultant” Cynthia Gibson, Providence College global studies professor Nicholas Longo and activist Pam Jennings. “Participatory budgeting” — which the authors link to the Rhode Island Foundation’s non-governmental “Make It Happen” initiative to spend federal stimulus money — belongs on the…

Chromosomes

Transgenderism is turning public policy into a mind-bending game

By Justin Katz | May 10, 2021 |

Gail Heriot — a civil rights attorney and law professor — gives a quick summary, over on Instapundit, of the argumentative bind of transgender activists in the Biden Administration trying to force the College of the Ozarks to allow men who identify as women to live in girls’ dorms: If an anatomical woman who wears dresses…

Dan McKee gets vaccinated

Gov. McKee wants you to know that you’re deplorable.

By Justin Katz | May 10, 2021 |

  The 199,922 Rhode Islanders who voted for President Trump (and probably tens of thousands more who supported him but did not vote) have good cause to wonder whether the governor of the State of Rhode Island cares about their lives and interests. When Dan McKee found out that somebody hosting a fundraiser for him,…

A line to enter a store.

The brackets are only one part of the calculation of your tax increases.

By Justin Katz | May 7, 2021 |

Something conservative Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, of Colorado, tweeted raises an important point people often forget when it comes to tax and spending policy: Biden isn’t just raising taxes on the rich. He is raising taxes on everyone. The $400,000 number has been proven to be a lie. Be prepared. The cost of living is…

A preacher in a spotlight

Restore the Republic by Reminding the Oppressors That They Matter

By Justin Katz | May 7, 2021 |

As conservatives move on from assessing Rhode Island and America’s situation and begin working out what to do about it, we should look to the experience of Jews and early Christians for a lesson that may seem counter-intuitive at first.

Panelists for Legal Insurrections Unity Not Division event

Barrington can be a start to a more-mature discussion about race.

By Justin Katz | May 7, 2021 |

Through his Legal Insurrection blog and the related foundation, Barrington resident and Cornell law professor William Jacobson has been hosting some excellent online panels, and he’s just announced one for May 23 at 8:00 p.m. that takes up the topic of addressing race in his hometown.  The compelling title of the presentation is, “Unity Not Division:…

Image of a man reflected in a puddle.

At this point, racial strife results from the friction between reality and a media-created perception.

By Justin Katz | May 7, 2021 |

Political science professor Eric Kaufmann recently appeared on City Journal’s 10 Blocks podcast to discuss diminishment of academic freedom as well as increasing gaps in our perceptions of reality.  The latter he attributes to a “new ideology… that sacralizes race, gender, and sexuality which then means that people aren’t able to get an objective story…

River and mill in Pawtucket, RI.

For a brief time Rhode Island had three seats in Congress.

By Justin Katz | May 6, 2021 |

That’s one of the telling details from a characteristically easy-to-read and historically informed essay by Steve Frias in the Cranston Herald.  In a nutshell, unionization and a refusal to adapt to a changing economy have been costing Rhode Island population, economic activity, and relevance for more than a half century: Unable to remake itself following this…