Written

A water drop and ripples

The parental-rights narrative is always being framed.

By Justin Katz | November 18, 2021 |

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it characterized as “doubling down” before when a party to a lawsuit has appealed to a higher court, but here’s Sarah Doiron on WPRI: Several parents who are challenging the state’s school mask mandate are doubling down on their efforts by appealing a Rhode Island Superior Court judge’s…

A chart of Native American life expectancy vs. the average

Encouraging fixation on historical harms isn’t helping the disadvantaged.

By Justin Katz | November 18, 2021 |

At the risk of expressing a forbidden opinion, this is not a healthy perspective: Even if Indigenous people spend Thanksgiving with family and festivities, [Tomaquag Museum executive director Lorén Spears] said, “They still know that this isn’t always a happy time for us because it reminds us of all the trauma and loss that our…

A water drop and ripples

Nicole Solas talks to National Review

By Marc Comtois | November 17, 2021 |

Nicole Solas and Jon Riches of the Goldwater Institute talked to Rich Lowry of National Review about Nicole’s ongoing battle against the South Kingstown School Department.    

Kansas anti-mandate protesters

Historical analogies for the hated other.

By Justin Katz | November 17, 2021 |

If history repeated with a twist, would you notice?  I’ve wondered that often, over the years, and have marveled how difficult it seems for people to spot trends and recognize analogies. A recent example came courtesy of Paul Dion when he commented, “Absolutely disgusting,” while sharing a tweet by “they/them” California techy Chad Loder: In…

A water drop and ripples

Courts will weigh in on whether schools can lie to parents about helping students change their identities.

By Justin Katz | November 17, 2021 |

Transgenderism in schools is one of those strange issues that is simply so odd many people will just not process it, to the point of denial, while others will insist on seeing it as completely normal advancement in human interactions, but that is going to determine answers to profound questions, whether we acknowledge the issue…

Homeless man "seeking human kindness"

Who thought it was a good idea to throw $36 million dollars at the government of Woonsocket?

By Justin Katz | November 17, 2021 |

With that question, I mean Woonsocket as representative of municipal governments generally. The city is in the midst of the process of figuring out how to spend the $36 million dollars the federal government will send its way as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).  You’ll recall that the purpose of the act…

A water drop and ripples

St. Paul rent control is a good reminder for RI progressives to think before they act.

By Justin Katz | November 17, 2021 |

Even before it goes into effect, a new rent-control law in St. Paul, Minnesota, is backfiring: “Less than 24 hours after St. Paul voters approved one of the country’s most stringent rent control policies, Nicolle Goodman’s phone started to ring,” the Star-Tribune reports. “Developers were calling to tell the city’s director of planning and economic…

A water drop and ripples

Why is YouTube undercutting its most powerful selling point?

By Justin Katz | November 17, 2021 |

This is an amazing incident, in which YouTube cut the streams of several of its most successful, home-grown channels because they were utilizing a public video stream and were overshadowing mainstream media sources: The Rekieta Law channel, which features multiple lawyers doing real-time analysis of the trial, often beat the number of people watching the…

Silhouette of a stickup

We all must investigate Coventry High School.

By Justin Katz | November 17, 2021 |

Something is going on over there, and in addition to providing a red flag for Coventry, it illustrates a problem of catastrophic import that we all should investigate.  The details, as Sam LaFrance reports them for WLNE, appear to be as follows: While in the hallway between classes on Monday, a male student at Coventry…

Valrie Ranglin-Brown tweets about the Johns Hopkins report

Weird how every insight other than the testimony of vested interests in the system turns out to be suspicious to the vested interests.

By Justin Katz | November 16, 2021 |

Putting aside the insinuation of bad faith on the part of people with whom she disagrees, Providence English teacher Valrie Ranglin-Brown — sister of Rhode Island Representative Marcia Ranglin-Vassell (D, Providence) — makes a point well worth considering: The John Hopkins Report on Providence Schools is truly not reflective of our schools. Its goal was…