A Novel Purpose for Campaign Funds
Regulating candidacies shrinks the pool of candidates and ensures that the successful politician will often be the one with the greatest talent for corruption.
Shot in the Arm or Permanent IV?
Does anybody else see headlines like the following, from WPRI, and think it sounds kind of like our state is on life support?
Politics This Week with John DePetro: RI’s Con-Game Government
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for March 29, included talk about:
- The Lt. Gov. final 5
- Climate change politics
- Kate Coyne McCoy’s threat to “moderate” Dems
- Cranston’s new far-left Republican
- Can the log-jam of Providence’s school system be broken up?
- Were we wrong to doubt Mattiello as the firewall?
I’ll be on again Monday, April 5, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.
Rhody Reporter: Axe the Act – H5445
The Rhody Reporter is flabbergasted at the scope of a wildly progressive bill just passed by the RI legislature. It would cede all legislative and executive prerogative on RI carbon emissions to an unelected state commission. Mark Zaccaria explains en route to asking everyone to call the governor and beg for a veto!
COVID Compliance and Killing Kids
Although the bureaucratic experts who continue to suppress our lives (and the journalists who enable them) might believe differently, numbers showing that compliance rules had little, if any, effect on the pandemic aren’t some interesting abstract datapoints on a page.
Lockdowns and the Health of the Polity
If the United States had a properly functioning representative democracy, a lot of lockdown-state politicians would be feeling massive heat and near certainty of defeat for themselves and their parties.
A Name for the Approach: Weaponized Government Failure
A new term highlights the reality that what is good for the community might not be good for the people who wish to govern that community.
The Left’s True Seed of Collapse
Think about how bizarre a world it must be for a law school not to want somebody involved in a history-book-level case as a professor, even for a single course.
RI Education Insiders Lack Incentive to Succeed
Having Rhode Island so thoroughly under their command, insider special interests have little incentive to perform. No matter how central their role in some failure, they can be assured that they will gain by the supposed solution.
Smiley Out the Ethical Door
Brett Smiley’s exit from the executive branch in Rhode Island exposes one of the central conceits of ethics laws.
The Fraud Begins Where the Fraud Ends
Of course, the left-wing cabal would have massive incentive to cheat so as not to be out on that limb of blatant disregard for fair play and still lose.
Politics This Week with John DePetro: Moving Past the East Side Style
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for January 25, included talk about:
- Raimondo’s East Side of Providence style versus McKee’s Blackstone Valley style
- Central Falls as leading example of RI’s patronage system
- Black Lives Matter flag in Barrington
- Legislation against vaccine line-cutters
I’ll be on again Monday, February 1, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.
Providence Government’s Fight Against Residents
At a press conference of the city government to announce new policies, what could it mean for a speaker to pledge to “fight” and “take back our city”?
A Tale of Two Entrances… and Exits
Americans are seeing two different realities in the Storming of the Capitol, neither perfectly accurate, and there are two paths forward, one better than the other.
In The Dugout: THE CANCEL CULTURE
Friday Cocktails with Mike Stenhouse on In The Dugout
Politics This Week with John DePetro: Departing Queen and Incoming Squad
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for January 4, included talk about:
- Raimondo’s prospects in a Biden administration
- Channel 10’s groveling before progressives
- The General Assembly’s likely atmosphere
I’ll be on again Monday, January 11, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.
WJAR’s Valicenti Editing: Don’t Trust Media to Protect Our Rights
At the outset of 2021, progressives and the local news media have sent a dangerous message to Rhode Islanders, an early symptom of metastasizing fascism.
Sales Tax and Government’s Break from the People
It behooves us to keep a watchful eye on how the incentives of government change and shift over time, and COVID offers many exercises for doing so.
The Responsibility of the “Experts”
If you won’t do what you’re told of your own free will (with their helpful psychological tricks and manipulation) they’ll have to force you to do it.
Rhody Reporter: Clash of Philosophies
Mark Zaccaria gives a short primer on Progressive vs. Conservative approaches to government.
Hate Speech: Another Warning from Venezuela
“Hate” laws are another area in which Americans will not be able to claim ignorance when we come to tyranny.
Politics This Week with John DePetro: Them and the Rest of Us
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for December 14, included talk about:
- The administration’s COVID outbreak
- The governor’s quarantine
- A budget through the roof
- The governor’s house becomes an official protest spot
I’ll be on again Monday, December 14, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.
Court Appointments and the Governor’s Power
Raimondo wants you to follow rules that she, alone, has developed and proclaimed. Whatever their thoughts about the coronavirus, Rhode Islanders should insist that she must follow the rules that our representative democracy purports to impose.
Politics This Week with John DePetro: The End Game Settling In
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for December 7, included talk about:
- Not getting rid of Gina
- Identity politics rule
- The poor investment of a General Assembly campaign
- Nellie’s election security deterioration
I’ll be on again Monday, December 14, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.
The Era of Rhetorical Tricks
In times of division and brazen fraud, look for the opportunity to understand the other.
Politics This Week with John DePetro: A Pause Before Dying
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for November 23, included talk about:
- The governor hits “pause” on freedom
- The Board of Elections hits “stop” for GOP challenges
- Congressional Democrats hit “no” on Cicilline’s bid
- A police review board director hits “send” on a leak
- The General Assembly hits “go” on a progressive agenda
I’ll be on again Monday, November 30, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.
State Senate’s Hard Left on Progressive Street
Political leaders who can look at an economy in which nearly 20,000 people stopped looking for work during a pre-COVID-surge month when the nation was recovering and in which there are 36,000 fewer jobs than a year ago and conclude that this is what’s needed are not just pandering. They’re dangerous.
A Higher Purpose Than Building a Twitter Following
We cannot avoid the culture war anymore. It’s in everything we do.
Distracted from Important COVID Questions
Given the choice, Americans might very well choose not to sacrifice their holidays, their businesses, and their children’s education so as to maintain the fiction that a rapidly socializing government can manage complex systems like healthcare.