Written

Part of the mural at URI

What is URI president Marc Parlange covering with his wokeness?

By Justin Katz | January 20, 2022 |

Maybe some people collect them or leverage them for some purpose or other, but honorary degrees from colleges and universities have always seemed pretty useless and ceremonial to me — like a certificate to thank a person for participating in an event. With the latest radical move from the University of Rhode Island’s new president,…

A water drop and ripples

What if Native Americans displaced somebody else?

By Justin Katz | January 20, 2022 |

Rick Moran asks that dangerous question: So what happened to these older, primitive societies — the Clovis people and others who were clearly present in North and Central America before modern Native Americans? They no doubt had what they considered “their land” to hunt and forage. Who stole it from them and wiped them out?…

A water drop and ripples

The Left doesn’t really believe its own rhetoric.

By Justin Katz | January 20, 2022 |

Brian Gottstein notes that Washington, D.C., is requiring proof of vaccination for various purposes, but also photo ID to validate that the vaccine card holder is in fact the person named on it: Hold on a minute! Wasn’t it just a few short months ago—as the battles over election reform raged in the states—that we…

A college class

Documents about waking to wokeness will one day be studied.

By Justin Katz | January 20, 2022 |

One day, somebody will publish a thick collection of documents written by those who have been awakening to, and warning about, wokeness.  Jordan Peterson’s open letter explaining his resignation as a tenured professor will be among its pages (if anybody can afford the rights!).  Some will scoff at Peterson, but this document is the most…

Boy in a library

Anybody who wants to help disadvantaged minorities should support this.

By Justin Katz | January 19, 2022 |

You can’t help but be moved by stories like this.  Similarly, you can’t miss the political reasons they aren’t more widely spread. [Denisha] Merriweather’s future looked bleak. “Teachers would sigh when I walked through the door,” she said of the district schools she attended. “Another Merriweather,” they would judge. “My family name was not that…

A water drop and ripples

Someday we’ll learn that centralizing power centralizes benefit.

By Justin Katz | January 19, 2022 |

Brad Polumbo conveys a should-be-unsurprising finding from an MIT study: The federal government has spent an astounding $42,000 per federal taxpayer on so-called “stimulus” efforts since the pandemic began. Where did all that money go? Well, as it turns out, one of the biggest stimulus programs, the Paycheck Protection Program, failed miserably. … The analysis…

An essential worker sign

It’s starting to feel like we’re being bought off.

By Justin Katz | January 19, 2022 |

I’ll be honest.  Facing a massive imminent bill for a prematurely failed septic system while I’m in the midst of a career adjustment and at a high-water mark for higher-education expenses spanning generations, news about a state-administered federal program to hand out up to $50,000 to homeowners initially felt like an opportunity: The newly opened…

A water drop and ripples

Is Langevin getting out in advance of an investment controversy?

By Justin Katz | January 19, 2022 |

John DePetro speculates: The real reason is an explosive story about to hit regarding Langevin under investigation regarding stock trading. Langevin would feel obligated to answer questions and face constituents if he was seeking another term in office or was indicted, but will ignore the press as the story leaks out. Congress has seemed to…

A Nipyata

Do we want to be defined by nanny-state bans?

By Justin Katz | January 19, 2022 |

Democrat state representative from Warwick David Bennett continues his long streak of bad legislation with an effort to ban nips — those little bottles of alcohol that have been a fixture of liquor stores for decades: Rep. David Bennett, D-Warwick, is tired of spotting discarded nips strewn along the side of the road whenever he…

Sign reading "You'll Get It Eventually"

McCardle is wrong to saddle the Somewheres with election concerns.

By Justin Katz | January 18, 2022 |

Libertarian columnist for the Washington Post Megan McCardle appeared on Russ Roberts’s EconTalk podcast to talk about the late Roger Scruton’s contrast of the Somewheres, whose worldview is deeply tied to a sense of belonging somewhere, and the Anywheres, who (if I may attempt to summarize their desire charitably) want to feel at home wherever they may go. …