Topics
City/Town Government
Looking Forward From the Exeter Recall
What Lessons Will the Town Council Take from the Recall Experience?
The Referendum Option That the Town Council May Not Know it Already Sort of Supported
Since Constitutional Rights are Involved, So Too May be the Courts…
The Exeter Recall
In voting for the March 11 resolution to remove firearms permitting authority from the town of Exeter, the Town Council majority chose the path that comes all too easily to Rhode Island officials: passing serious decisions to someone else. But just because many Rhode Island politicians accept this as normal doesn’t mean the citizens of Exeter have to — and it is healthy that they haven’t.
Analyzing Revenue Analyst’s Objection to Zero.Zero Municipal Windfall
State Director of Revenue Analysis Paul Dion’s objections to the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity’s municipal revenue projections need adjustment for both policy realities and existing law.
Congress
Chafee Admin Won’t Let Rhode Islanders Keep Cancelled Health Insurance Policies That May or May Not Have Been Cancelled and May or May Not Still Exist
What does it mean if you’re barred from keeping a plan that may not exist?
10 News Conference Wingmen, Episode 7 (Shutdown, Pensions, and More)
Andrew Morse discusses the federal shutdown and Rhode Island politics with Bob Plain for a full half hour of News 10 Wingmen.
10 News Conference Wingmen, Episode 6 (Shutdown)
Justin Katz and Bob Plain talk government shutdown and extremists on 10 News Conference.
Culture & Family
And ain’t they so superiah?
Cultural disagreements on National Review Online elevate the Duck Dynasty affair to a political battle between creative free expression and totalitarian evolution.
Free Market Thinking Beyond the Model
Looking at Objectivism in the context of God, Coleridge, and RI-STAMP.
Thoughts Upon Reading Evangelii Gaudium: 2, Autonomy
A central concept in need of exploration within Pope Francis’s Evangelii Gaudium is that of autonomy, and the responsibilities that it imposes and allows on all people, regardless of position.
Economy
November Employment: Up Month Continues the Servant Economy
Rhode Island’s unemployment rate may have dropped, but it’s now tied for worst in the country, and the percentage of people who are working for somebody else (rather than themselves) continues to climb.
Liberals Have No Idea What to Do About Reality
Conservatives’ long record of advocating the same economic problems is not an indication that they don’t know what to do about recessions, but of the underlying problem that they believe must be solved.
Free Market Thinking Beyond the Model
Looking at Objectivism in the context of God, Coleridge, and RI-STAMP.
Education
So the “Dual Role” Has Become An Excuse to Give the President of CCRI A Hearty Raise?
This week, GoLocalProv‘s Kate Nagle shined a multi-part spotlight on various spending items at CCRI, the Community College of Rhode Island, one of three state colleges/universities and, accordingly, annual recipient of many millions of state tax dollars. We have yet to hear why, for example, it is prudent and appropriate that college funds are used [...]
Taveras’s First Major Policy Proposal of Questionable Value
A universal pre-K proposal from Providence Mayor Angel Taveras may be fighting the current of research showing such programs to be of dubious benefit.
Where We Do and Don’t Have Rights
It’s beyond dispute that progressive activists don’t really believe in a right to free speech, in the sense of the American founding, and where that will take the country ought to be of desperate concern of Americans who value freedom.
Environment
Anthropogenic Global Warming: IPCC’s Leaked Adjustment & the Providence Journal Highlights a “Climate Change” Survey That Borders on a Push Poll
A “helpful” and timely survey in the midst of some rough times for anthropogenic global warming advocates.
Global Warming: You Mean There’s a Debate to Be Had?
The global warming debate continues, but at least we’re now to the point of debating whether there is a debate to be had.
Back-Yard-Parking State Employee Got Overtime in Prior Years
As in recent articles from the Current, an investigative report from Tim White, of WPRI, shows another state employee whose funding comes from federal and other sources and whose work practices happen to be deserving of scrutiny.
Gambling
Betting the House for Rhode Island
Legislation submitted last week would allow people to gamble their assets (such as houses and investment accounts) at the new state-run casino.
Ballot Questions for the Voters
A brief analysis of the referenda questions that will appear on this November’s ballot in RI suggests that the state would be better off reordering its priorities, rather than expanding debt and doubling down on casinos.
05/29/12 – Joint House & Senate Finance Committees
Justin writes live from a joint House & Senate Committee Hearing on casino legislation.
General Assembly
Looking Forward From the Exeter Recall
What Lessons Will the Town Council Take from the Recall Experience?
The Referendum Option That the Town Council May Not Know it Already Sort of Supported
Since Constitutional Rights are Involved, So Too May be the Courts…
So the “Dual Role” Has Become An Excuse to Give the President of CCRI A Hearty Raise?
This week, GoLocalProv‘s Kate Nagle shined a multi-part spotlight on various spending items at CCRI, the Community College of Rhode Island, one of three state colleges/universities and, accordingly, annual recipient of many millions of state tax dollars. We have yet to hear why, for example, it is prudent and appropriate that college funds are used [...]
Analyzing Revenue Analyst’s Objection to Zero.Zero Municipal Windfall
State Director of Revenue Analysis Paul Dion’s objections to the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity’s municipal revenue projections need adjustment for both policy realities and existing law.
Government
Looking Forward From the Exeter Recall
What Lessons Will the Town Council Take from the Recall Experience?
The Referendum Option That the Town Council May Not Know it Already Sort of Supported
Since Constitutional Rights are Involved, So Too May be the Courts…
The Exeter Recall
In voting for the March 11 resolution to remove firearms permitting authority from the town of Exeter, the Town Council majority chose the path that comes all too easily to Rhode Island officials: passing serious decisions to someone else. But just because many Rhode Island politicians accept this as normal doesn’t mean the citizens of Exeter have to — and it is healthy that they haven’t.
Thoughts Upon Reading Evangelii Gaudium: 2, Autonomy
A central concept in need of exploration within Pope Francis’s Evangelii Gaudium is that of autonomy, and the responsibilities that it imposes and allows on all people, regardless of position.
Governor
One More Data Point, Please: RI State Workers 5th Highest Paid
Let’s have all relevant data points on the table as the negotiation of a new contract with Rhode Island’s state workers proceeds.
Chafee Admin Won’t Let Rhode Islanders Keep Cancelled Health Insurance Policies That May or May Not Have Been Cancelled and May or May Not Still Exist
What does it mean if you’re barred from keeping a plan that may not exist?
A Couple Ways Around the Block
So far, the approach and plans that Ken Block has laid out in his campaign for governor do more to raise than to allay concerns.
Healthcare
Paying Money to Be Able to Give It Away
Federal grants have already paid large subsidies for applicants using HealthSource RI, but only for a small number of them is that the full taxpayer burden.
When inability to predict the future is an excuse for promising lifetime benefits.
Perhaps for comic relief, Tom Sgouros attempts to wave away concerns about the failure of RI governments to put aside money to pay for the lifetime health benefits of employees.
Contrary to a Certain “Fact”-Checking Service, Rhode Island Does, Indeed, Have the Highest Number of Health Insurance Mandates
One of the reasons that Rhode Islanders may seem to suffer slightly less than other states under the mandate-heavy ObamaCare law is because … well, we’ve already been suffering: the Rhode Island General Assembly has heaped the most number of health insurance mandates on us. “On us” because, contrary to the muddled thinking of too [...]
History
Timely Thoughts on Veteran’s Day
Even after 150 years, the Gettysburg Address refocuses our attention away from a president and toward those who’ve sacrificed for the cause of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
“Romans were blinded to what was happening to them by the very perfection of the material culture which they had created.”
Eileen Power on the Fall of Rome – Selections from Chapter 1 of Medieval People: The decline of Rome preceded and in some ways prepared the rise of the kingdoms and cultures which composed the medieval system….No observer should have failed to notice that the Roman Empire of the fourth and fifth centuries was no [...]
Immigration
Activists and Lawmakers Set to Challenge In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens
Another round is looming in the dispute between members of the RI General Assembly and the attorney general over in-state tuition for illegal immigrants.
Rhode Island, nos trata a todos como extraños
Al igual que un conductor que no sabe donde los edifi cios que solían ser, los que no conocen los canales secretos del gobierno de RI tienen tres opciones.
Lower Unemployment in Alabama Corresponds with Immigration Law
Correlation is not causation, but Alabama’s employment picture has improved in the wake of its stringent immigration law.
Infrastructure
Two Sides to Every Bill: Low Income Housing Taxes
The Providence Journal editorial board fires off another knee jerk missive, complaining that legislators are passing knee jerk legislation. The writer should have done a bit more research and offered a bit more explanation.
Roger Lord: The People Under the Bus Go “See You Next Election”
Taxpayers in Little Compton feel as if they’ve been thrown under the bus and plan to prove it to elected officials.
After Tolls: A New Level of Cynicism
Interpreting the travel of the Sakonnet River Bridge toll legislation is apt to make a Rhode Islander even more cynical.
Legislation
If Not Now, When? If Not Nothing, 3%.
Eliminating the sales tax remains the most attractive tax reform on the table, but if government officials find the risk to be too great, then reduction to a 3% rate looks like the way to go.
Analyzing Revenue Analyst’s Objection to Zero.Zero Municipal Windfall
State Director of Revenue Analysis Paul Dion’s objections to the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity’s municipal revenue projections need adjustment for both policy realities and existing law.
12/03/13 – Sales Tax Commission
Justin liveblogs another commission hearing on eliminating the state sales tax, this time concerning the state’s economic modeling of the proposal and alternatives from the Center for Freedom & Prosperity.
Media
Kudos to Quiroa For Getting the Critical Point About the DePetro Flap
In the last hour, the Providence Journal put on line a letter from David Quiroa, the president of the Alliance for Guatemala. What did he “get”? Not that John DePetro voices the thoughts of “the right”; sometimes he does, sometimes not. Nor is it true, as Quiroa implies, that the thoughts of conservatives are dominated [...]
RIGOP Joins Boycott of WPRO
It’s not at all clear how large the boycott of WPRO actually is. However large or small it is, the RIGOP announced via e-mailed press release just now that it is joining. RHODE ISLAND REPUBLICAN PARTY TO BOYCOTT WPRO PROVIDENCE: Mark Smiley the Chair of RIGOP issued a statement today regarding a boycott of WPRO. [...]
10 News Conference Wingmen, Episode 14 (Unions & Politicians v. John DePetro)
Justin and Bob Plain discuss the union-driven push to defenestrate John DePetro and whether it’s appropriate for politicians (in and out of office) to boycott an entire media organization and petition private businesses to do the same.
Musings & Announcements
A Theory of Success; Confession
It’s easy to lump people into categories of their visible life circumstances, but life and luck aren’t so easily defined.
Things We Read Today (54)
Quadrupling down on Rhode Island; finding the American-statist antidote in the Ocean State; school choice as the real civil rights battle of the day; who gets media “support” and why.
Happy Independence Day!
National Security
PolitiFacting in the Service of Extremism Is a Vice
The journalists at PolitiFact RI appear to be okay with military presumptions against Americans provided it’s in opposition to the Tea Party.
First Draft of the President’s Syria Resolution
Multiple media sources have published the first draft of the resolution on attacking Syria that the President will send to Congress for approval.
Obama Ruins a Coinage
War policy that unites the Left and Right and economic policy that favors the 1% raises the question whether there’s any rationale for supporting the president’s administration beyond rank partisanship.
Pensions
So the “Dual Role” Has Become An Excuse to Give the President of CCRI A Hearty Raise?
This week, GoLocalProv‘s Kate Nagle shined a multi-part spotlight on various spending items at CCRI, the Community College of Rhode Island, one of three state colleges/universities and, accordingly, annual recipient of many millions of state tax dollars. We have yet to hear why, for example, it is prudent and appropriate that college funds are used [...]
When inability to predict the future is an excuse for promising lifetime benefits.
Perhaps for comic relief, Tom Sgouros attempts to wave away concerns about the failure of RI governments to put aside money to pay for the lifetime health benefits of employees.
The Highly Injury Prone, Unbelievably Piggy North Providence “Firefighter”; or, Giving Thanks for a Nosy Press
… “firefighter” in quotes because, not only would most firefighters almost certainly disown Stephen Campbell but, more to the point, it appears that he spent almost as much time on paid injury leave on the North Providence fire department as he did actually fighting fires. As it’s not usually helpful to either describe or improve [...]
Political Theory
And ain’t they so superiah?
Cultural disagreements on National Review Online elevate the Duck Dynasty affair to a political battle between creative free expression and totalitarian evolution.
Liberals Have No Idea What to Do About Reality
Conservatives’ long record of advocating the same economic problems is not an indication that they don’t know what to do about recessions, but of the underlying problem that they believe must be solved.
Free Market Thinking Beyond the Model
Looking at Objectivism in the context of God, Coleridge, and RI-STAMP.
Politics
Looking Forward From the Exeter Recall
What Lessons Will the Town Council Take from the Recall Experience?
The Referendum Option That the Town Council May Not Know it Already Sort of Supported
Since Constitutional Rights are Involved, So Too May be the Courts…
Kudos to Quiroa For Getting the Critical Point About the DePetro Flap
In the last hour, the Providence Journal put on line a letter from David Quiroa, the president of the Alliance for Guatemala. What did he “get”? Not that John DePetro voices the thoughts of “the right”; sometimes he does, sometimes not. Nor is it true, as Quiroa implies, that the thoughts of conservatives are dominated [...]
One More Data Point, Please: RI State Workers 5th Highest Paid
Let’s have all relevant data points on the table as the negotiation of a new contract with Rhode Island’s state workers proceeds.
Sports
Shut Down the NCAA
The NCAA handed down a one half of one game suspension for current Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel for taking money for autographs. However, they have a bit of a history with giving out much longer suspensions for lesser offenses. It’s time to shut down the NCAA.
Taxation
One More Data Point, Please: RI State Workers 5th Highest Paid
Let’s have all relevant data points on the table as the negotiation of a new contract with Rhode Island’s state workers proceeds.
So the “Dual Role” Has Become An Excuse to Give the President of CCRI A Hearty Raise?
This week, GoLocalProv‘s Kate Nagle shined a multi-part spotlight on various spending items at CCRI, the Community College of Rhode Island, one of three state colleges/universities and, accordingly, annual recipient of many millions of state tax dollars. We have yet to hear why, for example, it is prudent and appropriate that college funds are used [...]
If Not Now, When? If Not Nothing, 3%.
Eliminating the sales tax remains the most attractive tax reform on the table, but if government officials find the risk to be too great, then reduction to a 3% rate looks like the way to go.
Unions
Kudos to Quiroa For Getting the Critical Point About the DePetro Flap
In the last hour, the Providence Journal put on line a letter from David Quiroa, the president of the Alliance for Guatemala. What did he “get”? Not that John DePetro voices the thoughts of “the right”; sometimes he does, sometimes not. Nor is it true, as Quiroa implies, that the thoughts of conservatives are dominated [...]
One More Data Point, Please: RI State Workers 5th Highest Paid
Let’s have all relevant data points on the table as the negotiation of a new contract with Rhode Island’s state workers proceeds.
RIGOP Joins Boycott of WPRO
It’s not at all clear how large the boycott of WPRO actually is. However large or small it is, the RIGOP announced via e-mailed press release just now that it is joining. RHODE ISLAND REPUBLICAN PARTY TO BOYCOTT WPRO PROVIDENCE: Mark Smiley the Chair of RIGOP issued a statement today regarding a boycott of WPRO. [...]
Welfare
Paying Money to Be Able to Give It Away
Federal grants have already paid large subsidies for applicants using HealthSource RI, but only for a small number of them is that the full taxpayer burden.
Question for All Gubernatorial Candidates: Would You Release and Implement the Block Waste & Fraud Report?
Yesterday on WPRO‘s John Depetro Show, John Loughlin, filling in, interviewed gov candidate Ken Block. A caller asked Block to release the waste and fraud report that his company had prepared for the state earlier this year. Quick background. Governor Chafee did not release the whole report, only what amounted to a tantalizing summary. The [...]
10 News Conference Wingmen, Episode 12 (Taxes and Wealth)
Justin and Bob discuss taxes and wealth on NBC 10 Wingmen, with some afterthoughts from Justin.