Written

A water drop and ripples

These are dangerous thoughts to express these days.

By Justin Katz | January 11, 2022 |

I got myself in a little bit of trouble a few weeks back for expressing ideas like this, from Larry Alexander: In general, blacks as a group are doing better than ever before materially. And for those who are not doing well, the cause is not the effects of slavery or Jim Crow. Nor is…

School girl in medical mask

McKee’s new school policy for COVID feels like backfilling.

By Justin Katz | January 11, 2022 |

Governor Dan McKee, along with the Rhode Island departments of health and education, implemented new guidelines for how schools handle COVID infections, yesterday.  Employees and students who have been vaccinated and boosted (depending on age) do not have to quarantine, even if they had close contact with somebody who tested positive.  Notably, the same applies…

A water drop and ripples

Back to the with/for distinction in hospitalizations.

By Justin Katz | January 11, 2022 |

Rhode Island’s Department of Health claims that almost everybody listed as hospitalized with COVID is in the hospital at least partly because of COVID, but I keep seeing stories like this: The majority of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in New Jersey were actually admitted for reasons other than COVID-19, officials said on Jan. 10. Of the…

A water drop and ripples

We do have an alternative to shutting schools.

By Justin Katz | January 11, 2022 |

With the head of one of Rhode Island’s teachers unions saying “the responsible decision” is to shut schools and force students back into distance learning, his reasons are worth a look: … the overwhelming number of cases, the inability to do meaningful contact tracing, the arctic temperatures we are expecting so windows cannot be opened,…

STORMTOOLS graphic of Barrington with 3 feet sea rise

A little skepticism about sea-level scares is needed.

By Justin Katz | January 11, 2022 |

Have you ever seen a mainstream news report that treated scary environmental projections with even an iota of skepticism?  Consider Tolly Taylor’s report for WPRI, which bears the headline, “Parts of Barrington will be underwater by 2035, sea-level data shows.” The first paragraph of the story gives the impression that the headline is a bit…

A water drop and ripples

Is the NCAA an indicator of the breaking of the dam of reality on COVID?

By Justin Katz | January 10, 2022 |

This is encouraging and long overdue: As ESPN reports, the NCAA’s COVID-19 Medical Advisory Group updated its definition of “fully vaccinated” to account for various new vaccinations, boosters, and immunity factors. “Fully vaccinated individuals now include those within two months of receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, five months of receiving the Pfizer vaccine series…

A water drop and ripples

We can hope for (but not count on) the COVID shutdowns’ being the end of teachers unions.

By Justin Katz | January 10, 2022 |

Many of us sure do hope that Lindsey Burke is onto something, here: The only way out of this mess is to free families from the clutches of the teachers’ unions. Funding students directly would empower families to access educational alternatives. The good news is that the unions’ political games could further the movement to…

Infectious bronchitis virus

Let’s be specific about what is creating students’ nightmarish days.

By Justin Katz | January 10, 2022 |

A reddit post by somebody claiming to be a student at a “specialized high school” in New York City has been getting a fair bit of attention.  (Note that the post has been edited, with some commentary found in earlier screen captures deleted.)  The student describes a school day during the Omicron surge as something…

A water drop and ripples

New business starts can be a sign of an unhealthy economy.

By Justin Katz | January 10, 2022 |

I’ve long speculated that Rhode Islanders start businesses at a healthy clip because the economy isn’t producing work at the level of hours and/or pay that they want.  That is why the Ocean State sees a lot of businesses struggle when they start formalizing things.  All the business stuff is too complicated, especially when the folks…

Heritage chart of federal crimes and federal prisoners

Living is becoming a crime, while crime is becoming simply living.

By Justin Katz | January 10, 2022 |

Law and order is shifting in the United States.  On one hand, it seems as if our justice system is increasingly reluctant to hold criminals accountable, with sometimes tragic outcomes like the recent death of an East Greenwich teen in a car crash.  Increasing assaults on college students in Rhode Island’s capital city raise no…