Watching the News Without the Scary Soundtrack
If Block Island tourists’ behavior isn’t having a measurable effect, maybe it isn’t actually “behaving badly.”
The Key Point on Union-Democrat Hegemony
Contrary to Ian Donnis’s suggestion, it is the labor movement’s fault that other interest groups don’t muster a comparable level of political activity, because it isn’t really a question of “don’t”; it’s “can’t.”
The Elusive Promise of Populist Unity
The disillusionment of progressives who leaned Bernie creates an opportunity to bridge a chasm, if only we could find a way to see it.
The Invisible Line Between Unions and the Far Left
This post reprints a section of the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity’s new report, “RI Union Political Spending: A Web of Corruption.”
Raimondo in Your Backyard
Why are Rhode Islanders tolerating Democrat Governor Gina Raimondo’s assumption of power so far beyond what the government of a free people ought to assume?
Leaving No Place for the Disagreers
It seems that leaving people an escape is intolerable to the Left, because overcoming the natural desire to live free of progressive rules requires that no other option seems possible.
Fairy Tale Political Battles on the Road to Polygamy
Legislation that purports to clarify the laws around who can be and is a child’s parent does much more, and reportage is telling in a more-profound way than the light tone indicates.
Journalism Off Its Track
Trends in journalism accord with the impression that many conservatives have of the coming progressive totalitarianism — that it will be some kind of mixture of revolutionary France, the Google playhouse office campus, and Mean Girls.
Elorza’s “Collection of Truth” for Reparations Is a Red Flag
If common sense and just moral reasoning have no advocates, then insanity will simply roll over us all.
The COVID Story’s Focus Isn’t Where It Should Be for a Free People
The narratives around COVID-19 may make for an easier and more-fun story to write, but they aren’t what we should demand as a free and independent people… unless that’s not what we are anymore.
One Way to Gauge Who You Would Have Been
In a recent Twitter thread, Princeton Professor Robert George gets at a question that has long interested me: How can you tell who you would have been in ages past — what side of a controversy you would have taken?
Let’s Not Overdo the RI History Revisionism
Ever since Rhode Island Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello invited accusations of ignorance by questioning whether there had ever been slavery in the Ocean State, the pendulum has been swinging the other way.
Discomfort in the Look
If it’s true that white people are becoming “uncomfortable in their whiteness” for the first time, it’s a fabricated phenomenon that is not healthy for our society.
Travis Rowley: Statues of Limitation
The toppling of statues won’t complete the neo-communist objectives, the radical restructuring of American life. But it’s not without purpose. And this is only the beginning.
Progressive Relativism Revives an Abstract Paganism
We long for meaning, but progressive relativism has revivified paganism as an abstract and all-extinguishing ideology.
Headlines Designed to Divide
If you were trying to sow division and promote civil unrest (and maybe civil war), you would promote the narrative of these CNBC headlines.
In the Dugout: Ray Rickman on Race in Rhode Island
Law & Order
Mark Zaccaria argues that the current turmoil in the United States comes down to a loss of the institutions that used to teach people respect.
A Century of Slime-Throwing
One hundred years after the Klan scare in Rhode Island, it’s about time for an effective defense to guilt-by-(accusations-of)-association attacks to be found.
A Solution for the Progressive Crisis of Meaning
In our times of turmoil, if we place what’s going on in the proper context, the solution becomes obvious (albeit not easy).
Work-from-Home Globalization
As technology brings the benefits of globalization down to the individual level, will it mean greater opportunity for work-life balance, or the democratization of war?
Disenfranchising the People to Get Rid of the “Plantations”
Accepting elected officials’ overt disrespect for the rule of law does not advance the values of equality and mutual respect, but undermines them and will move us toward a dangerous future.
Politics This Week with John DePetro: A Lesson in Orwellian Providence
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for June 22, included talk about:
- The speaker’s plea of historical ignorance
- Raimondo’s dictatorial pandering
- Elorza’s push to remove his city from the state’s name
- Snitches on the ferry
I’ll be on again Monday, June 29, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.
Officially Approved Revolutionaries in Training
Notions of independent thought and familial authority are quickly becoming illusions, contingent upon the official authorization of powerful progressives.
Derrick Garforth Is a Marker of Our Time
The Pawtucket middle school teacher arrested for attempted vandalism provides the latest warning about the direction of education and, in turn, our society.
Progressive Policies and Fatal Police Shootings
Comparing statistics of fatal shootings by police illustrates the problem with comparing the United States with other countries, or even states with each other.
About “Defunding the Police” in Rhode Island…
Without commenting on the substance of any particular policy proposal, it can be noted that, in the state of Rhode Island, the number of sworn officers on a police force is frequently determined by the police union contract. This seems to be the case in Providence, according to a Projo article by Mark Reynolds…
The tentative agreement with the Providence lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police also includes some new language on staffing levels. The language basically requires the city to maintain a staffing level of at least 435 positions. If staffing falls below that level, the city would compensate officers with additional sick days.
So whatever “defund the police” means in a Rhode Island context, will it mean that the local police union has to directly approve any major policy and budgeting shifts covered by their contract, or will the powers-that-be in Rhode Island come around to challenging the idea that major public policy changes can be vetoed by an organization not democratically selected by the people?
And if it is the latter, will there be an explanation of why police unions are different from other public-sector unions?
It has been argued in this space that allowing union contracts to be a major constraint on state and municipal government decision-making creates a democratic accountability problem, but many Rhode Island leaders were content to ignore this, when they could pretend the issues were mostly fiscal and could be reduced to choices between cuts to existing programs and tax-increases. Well, the issues around policing that government must address right now are much bigger than fiscal ones, and the problems of dealing with them with less-than-democratic governing structures can no longer be ignored.
Burn Baby Burn
Charles Callanan: Anarchism Is Not the Answer for America
It is clear to anyone paying attention that Anarchists are opportunists. The tragic and unjust death of Mr. Floyd was the catalyst to attack our very institutions, disrupt our lives and cause racial conflict.
A Problem with Revolution in the Internet Era
One problem with technology and automation is that it makes intimate knowledge of the object being automated easier to miss.