Written

A water drop and ripples

Think of it as a great opportunity for lower-income Americans to charitably step aside.

By Justin Katz | September 20, 2023 |

I know of at least one Massachusetts town where these new residents are about to enter an understaffed school system en masse.  Even more, they are getting free preschool and free transportation to preschool, which for residents is an additional cost that some are deciding is too expensive. We need to understand — and explain…

A water drop and ripples

I don’t think “independent” means what Magaziner thinks it means.

By Justin Katz | September 20, 2023 |

Doublespeak such as that used by Democrat Congressman Seth Magaziner in the following tweet has become so common that we hardly notice it.  He (or a staffer who wrote the post) may not even realize the problem with the word choice (which would make it doublethink, I suppose): If government supports journalism, it is by…

A water drop and ripples

RI pediatricians shouldn’t care more about indoctrination than children.

By Justin Katz | September 19, 2023 |

As is increasingly required, Nicole Solas has gone outside of Rhode Island to bring attention to a problem within the state, writing in Daily Caller: I pay my pediatrician for check-ups and throat cultures, not ideological finger-wagging about sex education in kindergarten. But at that moment I realized that gender ideology in medicine and education was…

RI Policy on Transgender Students: Ed Commissioner, RIDE, Governor Mum So Far

By Monique Chartier | September 18, 2023 |

Current Rhode Island public school policy on transgender and gender nonconforming students was formally passed as a regulation in April 2018 by the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education and then-Education Commissioner Ken Wagner under the authority of the governor. Anchor Rising made the following inquiry by e-mail last month of the Rhode Island Council…

Sketch of wrestlers in a battle royale

Force consideration of the other side rather than messing with ranked choice voting.

By Justin Katz | September 1, 2023 |

Rhode Island has reached the point that election day isn’t election day, and not only because early and mail voting blur the calendar.  As we’re seeing with the special Congressional race currently underway, for all intents and purposes, the Democrat primary is the election.  And with so many candidates vying for that position, one can hear…

Blue gollum fighting a red gollum in a cave

Suppression is always for the other side (especially when they’re conservatives).

By Justin Katz | August 31, 2023 |

A new study by criminology professors from the University of Rhode Island and Rutgers University — Luzi Shi and Jason Silver, respectively — produces some interesting results, although the URI press release is arguably inaccurate. Here are the headline and lede: Americans favor punishing only protestors they disagree with, new research shows Study finds Americans…

A water drop and ripples

By what authority is the Board of Elections discouraging votes for somebody duly placed on the ballot?

By Justin Katz | August 28, 2023 |

This is precisely the sort of application of supposed common sense without due process that incrementally undermines our rights. There is no process for a candidate to remove him or herself from the ballot, and as far as I know, there are no standards in law or regulation for the Board of Elections to determine…

An old, rusty chain

Standard economic analysis misses the rising “government plantation” in RI.

By Justin Katz | August 24, 2023 |

Rhode Island Current, a newcomer to the Ocean State’s media landscape, recently published an article by Nancy Lavin asking the perennial question, “What’s with RI jobs data?”  Over the decades of my interest in the topic, this ambiguity has been a running theme.  The state has no (and cannot have any) economic confidence. We’re like…

Sledge hammer

Matos’ Home Depot attack on Amo is a lesson in progressive thinking.

By Justin Katz | August 23, 2023 |

Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos’s attempt to tar competitor Gabe Amos for — get this — having ties to Home Depot is fascinating: He wants voters to focus on his work as a public servant and to ignore the fact that he was a registered lobbyist for Home Depot despite the company’s ties to the far-right…

"I Voted" sticker in a pile of leaves

Fewer Rhode Islanders are qualifying for the ballot.

By Justin Katz | August 18, 2023 |

Decreasing political participation is unhealthy, limiting voters’ choices, tilting incentives toward corruption, and separating We the People from the exercise of government authority, and campaign regulation reform would be a good place to start looking for a fix.