Topics
City/Town Government
Updated: Identification Cards in the Campus City
Providence’s proposed citywide IDs give away the progressive game… to turn reality into a college campus.
Last Impressions Podcast Episode 25: We Have to Up Our Game as Citizens
The danger of the political fashion flip and a loss of perspective.
The Accuracy of “Government Schools”
The phrase, “government schools,” is useful and increasingly accurate, as seen in an incident in Tiverton.
Civil Rights
State House Report with John DePetro, No. 22: Political and Cultural Battles
For my weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WADK 1540 AM show, last week, the topics were Gordon Fox, a summer Senate race, racial politics, and the possible WorSox.
Last Impressions Podcast Episode 27: The Guardians Desert
French fries and Confederate statues.
Looking at What’s Actually Happening Behind the Furor
While corporations edging away from the president may be good, making disliked minorities disappear from the Internet and from history in the dead of night are major warning signs.
Congress
State House Report with John DePetro, No. 20: Politics on the Beach and in the Restaurant
For my weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WADK 1540 AM show, last week, the topics were Raimondo’s budget reconciliation, the race for governor, and RI’s U.S. Senators make some news.
Amazon, Cicilline, and Anti-Trust
While Congressman David Cicilline is right to raise questions about Amazon’s monopoly power, the fact that he’s leading the charge is worrying.
State House Report with John DePetro, No. 17: Intrigue and Thuggishness in the General Assembly & East Greenwich
For my weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WADK 1540 AM show, last week, the topics were the budget intrigue at the State House, the labor unions’ textbook thuggishness in East Greenwich, and the popularity of senators.
Culture & Family
Heavy-Handed Totalitarian Measure Seen as Preemptive Strike to Force Truckers to Pay Future Tolls
In a heavy-handed edict, reminiscent of soviet-style totalitarianism, the state of Rhode Island considered restricting the free-flow of goods and commerce by restricting trucker traffic on secondary roads this week.
Lessons for Protection When the Devil Switches Sides
Lessons to guide students away from the dangerous threads of human nature (as realized in Nazism) must account for the reality that the Devil can switch sides.
Last Impressions Podcast Episode 27: The Guardians Desert
French fries and Confederate statues.
Economy
Heavy-Handed Totalitarian Measure Seen as Preemptive Strike to Force Truckers to Pay Future Tolls
In a heavy-handed edict, reminiscent of soviet-style totalitarianism, the state of Rhode Island considered restricting the free-flow of goods and commerce by restricting trucker traffic on secondary roads this week.
Center Blasts Newest Truck Toll Tyranny; RIDOT’s Laughable Denial
It has come to light that, on August 11, RIDOT *corrected* requested a hearing, scheduled for today, to issue commercial truck route restrictions within the state. The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity (for whom I am Communications Manager) has just issued a statement strongly condemning this. It says, in part,
Regunberg Meddling with a Model Beyond His Ken
Providence Representative Aaron Regunberg tramples economics to demagogue against National Grid.
Education
Lessons for Protection When the Devil Switches Sides
Lessons to guide students away from the dangerous threads of human nature (as realized in Nazism) must account for the reality that the Devil can switch sides.
Will Voters Turn Back the Progressive Tide in Special Senate Election?
Rhode Island progressives’ extremist agenda can no longer be denied.
Contingency in Connections to the KKK
Figures in the mainstream media want us to believe that white people are secretly awaiting their moment to assert dominance again, but curiously, it’s the American Left (and news media) that seems to have something to hide.
Energy & Environment
Regunberg Meddling with a Model Beyond His Ken
Providence Representative Aaron Regunberg tramples economics to demagogue against National Grid.
Will Voters Turn Back the Progressive Tide in Special Senate Election?
Rhode Island progressives’ extremist agenda can no longer be denied.
Last Impressions Podcast Episode 25: We Have to Up Our Game as Citizens
The danger of the political fashion flip and a loss of perspective.
Gambling
Last Impressions Podcast Episode 16: The Light of the World
Awards, earned and maybe not yet earned; Fight Club; Twin River; and it’s my birthday.
Tiverton Casino: Live by the Government, Die by the Government
Thanks to efforts to restrict the development of a piece of land in Tiverton, a government casino and hotel became its best use.
A Society in Which the Casino and the Government Must Always Win
A gambler under scrutiny for having found ways to tilt the odds in his favor is a good metaphor for taxpayers who are never permitted to win in the rigged game that politicians, labor unions, and other special interests have built.
General Assembly
State House Report with John DePetro, No. 22: Political and Cultural Battles
For my weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WADK 1540 AM show, last week, the topics were Gordon Fox, a summer Senate race, racial politics, and the possible WorSox.
Heavy-Handed Totalitarian Measure Seen as Preemptive Strike to Force Truckers to Pay Future Tolls
In a heavy-handed edict, reminiscent of soviet-style totalitarianism, the state of Rhode Island considered restricting the free-flow of goods and commerce by restricting trucker traffic on secondary roads this week.
Center Blasts Newest Truck Toll Tyranny; RIDOT’s Laughable Denial
It has come to light that, on August 11, RIDOT *corrected* requested a hearing, scheduled for today, to issue commercial truck route restrictions within the state. The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity (for whom I am Communications Manager) has just issued a statement strongly condemning this. It says, in part,
Government
The Conspiracy to Shirk Government’s Basic Purpose
Whether we’re witnessing a conspiracy or the coalescence of incentives, government’s entire purpose is to maintain the space for the exercise of our rights.
Last Impressions Podcast Episode 26: A Break from Normal Craziness
Summer finally arrives in time to go away; Game of Thrones kills the Song of Ice and Fire; the GOP brushes off its mandate; and a contrast with the crazies
An “Adaptive” System of Leaks Depends on Trust and Consequences
Journalists who support leaks have a point about their value as a safety valve for government abuse, but that safety valve requires that the consequences for breaking the law be real.
Governor
Heavy-Handed Totalitarian Measure Seen as Preemptive Strike to Force Truckers to Pay Future Tolls
In a heavy-handed edict, reminiscent of soviet-style totalitarianism, the state of Rhode Island considered restricting the free-flow of goods and commerce by restricting trucker traffic on secondary roads this week.
Center Blasts Newest Truck Toll Tyranny; RIDOT’s Laughable Denial
It has come to light that, on August 11, RIDOT *corrected* requested a hearing, scheduled for today, to issue commercial truck route restrictions within the state. The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity (for whom I am Communications Manager) has just issued a statement strongly condemning this. It says, in part,
State House Report with John DePetro, No. 21: The Way It Works in RI
For my weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WADK 1540 AM show, last week, the topics were the Montanaro connection, the “free tuition” lottery, and the gubernatorial race.
Healthcare
When Somebody Else Defines Your Humanity
Abortion is the Left’s leading argument for giving people the power to take away others’ humanity.
The Cost of Our Legislators
The General Assembly is irresponsible to debate and even pass legislation with no concrete sense of how much it will cost or why people don’t do as the legislators want independently.
Chilling: H5069, Single Payer Healthcare (And the Inconsistencies It Poses)
In the course of reviewing certain bills filed during this year’s General Assembly session, I clicked on H5069 — and stared in growing horror at all of the red-lining (i.e., everything to be struck from current law). I turned to the succinct description of this bill written by Justin Katz, Research Director for the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity, for the Center’s Freedom Index and the horror did not abate:
History
Lessons for Protection When the Devil Switches Sides
Lessons to guide students away from the dangerous threads of human nature (as realized in Nazism) must account for the reality that the Devil can switch sides.
Last Impressions Podcast Episode 27: The Guardians Desert
French fries and Confederate statues.
Looking at What’s Actually Happening Behind the Furor
While corporations edging away from the president may be good, making disliked minorities disappear from the Internet and from history in the dead of night are major warning signs.
Immigration
Updated: Identification Cards in the Campus City
Providence’s proposed citywide IDs give away the progressive game… to turn reality into a college campus.
Last Impressions Podcast Episode 21: Comings and Goings in Sinking RI
Will a deceptive budget season put Rhode Island over the edge?
Compassion and Why You Got Trump
Westerners are figuring out that their compassion is being abused and that the abusers’ preferred policies bring about outcomes that are an affront to the compassionate.
Infrastructure
Heavy-Handed Totalitarian Measure Seen as Preemptive Strike to Force Truckers to Pay Future Tolls
In a heavy-handed edict, reminiscent of soviet-style totalitarianism, the state of Rhode Island considered restricting the free-flow of goods and commerce by restricting trucker traffic on secondary roads this week.
Center Blasts Newest Truck Toll Tyranny; RIDOT’s Laughable Denial
It has come to light that, on August 11, RIDOT *corrected* requested a hearing, scheduled for today, to issue commercial truck route restrictions within the state. The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity (for whom I am Communications Manager) has just issued a statement strongly condemning this. It says, in part,
Huge Generator: RIDOT Recommended The Engineering Firm That Missed Five Bridges
You may have seen the huge, yellow tarp-covered generator that has been parked on the side of Route 95 north just past Route 4. It’s been the cause of lots of rubber-necking. Then came the news a couple of days ago that it had been pulled over by RIDOT while traveling and ordered not to advance because it is very heavy – 560,000 pounds.
John Tassoni, speaking for the company that is moving the generator, was on the WPRO Morning News with Gene Valicenti this morning. And he shared some eye-opening information about how the generator came to be side-lined.
Legislation
Progressives and Artificial Intelligence
Future reliance on artificial intelligence would be the fulfillment of the progressive vision that experts can guide society, so why is a Providence progressive an early opponent?
Regunberg Meddling with a Model Beyond His Ken
Providence Representative Aaron Regunberg tramples economics to demagogue against National Grid.
The Anecdotes of a Problematic Tuition Program
Early anecdotes of the sorts of young Rhode Islanders who’ll respond to the “free tuition” program illustrate the problem with government’s meddling with prices.
Media
The Conspiracy to Shirk Government’s Basic Purpose
Whether we’re witnessing a conspiracy or the coalescence of incentives, government’s entire purpose is to maintain the space for the exercise of our rights.
Last Impressions Podcast Episode 27: The Guardians Desert
French fries and Confederate statues.
Contingency in Connections to the KKK
Figures in the mainstream media want us to believe that white people are secretly awaiting their moment to assert dominance again, but curiously, it’s the American Left (and news media) that seems to have something to hide.
Musings & Announcements
Speaking Up for the Cranky
Spare a moment for the cranky person whom you encounter (or, ahem, read) and see if you can help him or her resolve the underlying ache.
Announcing AFF-RI: Progressivism is not cool.
Progressivism is not cool. Let me repeat that, because it is worth repeating: Progressivism is not cool; it is the opposite of cool. They want to control how you think, what you can say, what you can and cannot do. Progressivism is about dogma, it is not a political movement. It is a cult.
The cult of Progressivism is running rampant in Rhode Island. Unchecked or aided by the powers that be, the Progressives are gaining strength.
In Rhode Island, they have marched on the home of a defenseless Barrington resident and his partner, and brigaded a local town councillor … all for the grave crimes of daring to tell off-color jokes. Those are just two of the countless Progressive sins. SAD.
They have tried to silence peaceful rallies. They control the universities, even the Catholic ones, and they control the entertainment industry. But, most importantly here in Rhode Island, they are trying to trick you into believing they can control everything.
Progressives hate human life. Liberty is about human life. Liberty-minded millennials, like me, believe in human activity. We believe that individuals are capable of accomplishing great things, if only they were allowed to have a chance. We believe in big ideas, ideas like sales tax reform and school choice, that will unleash the power of human potential. These smart ideas will allow Rhode Island families to achieve their dreams. The progressive agenda is a sterile lifeless world of grey — a nightmare.
But, we are not without hope. Time and time again, I have seen the real people of our home state stand up and tell the progressives enough is enough. The regular people of our state have carried the torch of freedom, when our so-called political leaders have sat back and watched.
Now, it is time for a new generation to carry the torch of freedom. It is time for Rhode Island millennials to ditch the safe-spaces and coloring books, because there is a better way.
The America’s Future Foundation (AFF) is for conservative and libertarian young professionals who believe that they know how to better run their own lives than some bureaucrat.
We will be launching the Rhode Island chapter on June 2, 2017, at the Jake Speakeasy Lounge in Providence. (133 Douglas Avenue #1 Providence, RI 02908) Be there from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. for our huge launch party. This event will be free to attend, we will have a free appetizers, and there is ample free parking.
Our featured guest speaker is Rep. Blake Filippi, Rhode Island’s first millennial House Minority Whip.
The stakes could not be higher. While progressivism is spreading like a disease across our country, here in Rhode Island, we are their petri dish. We aren’t the front line, we are deep within enemy territory. Unless they are stopped, they will continue to experiment on the normal people of our state with their radical social engineering schemes to try-and-fail at their “utopian” delusions.
AFF-RI will work to advance individual liberty, personal responsibility, free-markets, and clean government. In short, the opposite to the progressive agenda that is poisoning the Ocean State.
We are the counter-culture. We are the resistance. Join the brand-new AFF Rhode Island chapter for our huge launch party on Friday, June 2, 2017. Kickoff at 6:30pm at the Jake in Providence! I want you there.
A Shameless Plug
This is a shameless plug. Two, actually. But it’s for two terrific organizations: the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity and the Gaspee Business Network.
National Security
An “Adaptive” System of Leaks Depends on Trust and Consequences
Journalists who support leaks have a point about their value as a safety valve for government abuse, but that safety valve requires that the consequences for breaking the law be real.
Never-Trump Right Gets Us to the Hub of the Matter
When it comes to Don Junior’s meeting with a Russian lawyer, it seems a lot of the key questions, the “and so”s, are being left out of the arguments.
Last Impressions Podcast Episode 22: Overcoming Bad Legislation and Apathy
How legislation shouldn’t happen, when the people can’t trust anybody, apathy, and high school reunions.
On a Lighter Note
Harry Potter and Muggle Fly-Over Country’s Conservative Stories
The Harry Potter novels are in some regards liberal wish fulfillment, not only that magic exists, and not only that the elect can be whisked away to an exclusive world, but also that we can ignore the obvious and profess progressive beliefs.
Last Impressions Podcast Episode 19: The Tides of Liberty and Attraction
What is government for? What turns me off about libertarianism, and what turns some men on about lesbianism? And a poetic response.
Deception and War in Walking Dead
Avoiding war (or entering it justly) requires actively working to bring about and maintain peace, and a willingness to acknowledge when a state of war already exists.
Pensions
Making Up for Pension Losses
Just as appliance consumers need a practical guide for decibel levels, news consumers need a better sense of what pension return numbers actually mean.
Last Impressions Podcast Episode 13: In Whom Do We Trust?
Trust in Trump (versus the elite), trust in intelligence gathering, trust in pensions and economic development, and trust in the police
Last Impressions Podcast Episode 8: Your Meaning, Their Madness
Missing the kiss (and the point), teacher union fantasy, charity for them, and stuff for you
Open post for podcast.
Political Theory
The Conspiracy to Shirk Government’s Basic Purpose
Whether we’re witnessing a conspiracy or the coalescence of incentives, government’s entire purpose is to maintain the space for the exercise of our rights.
Lessons for Protection When the Devil Switches Sides
Lessons to guide students away from the dangerous threads of human nature (as realized in Nazism) must account for the reality that the Devil can switch sides.
Last Impressions Podcast Episode 27: The Guardians Desert
French fries and Confederate statues.
Politics
State House Report with John DePetro, No. 22: Political and Cultural Battles
For my weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WADK 1540 AM show, last week, the topics were Gordon Fox, a summer Senate race, racial politics, and the possible WorSox.
The Conspiracy to Shirk Government’s Basic Purpose
Whether we’re witnessing a conspiracy or the coalescence of incentives, government’s entire purpose is to maintain the space for the exercise of our rights.
Last Impressions Podcast Episode 27: The Guardians Desert
French fries and Confederate statues.
Science
Progressives and Artificial Intelligence
Future reliance on artificial intelligence would be the fulfillment of the progressive vision that experts can guide society, so why is a Providence progressive an early opponent?
Hey, Let’s Try Public Debate and Open Inquiry
With resistance to climate alarmism still high, maybe the solution is a new approach for scientists to address the subject and present it to the public.
Excluding Religion from Government Schools Effectively Establishes Religion
Young Catholics find secular education pushes them away from their faith, which proves that government schools are not truly neutral on the most fundamental question of our lives.
Sports
State House Report with John DePetro, No. 22: Political and Cultural Battles
For my weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WADK 1540 AM show, last week, the topics were Gordon Fox, a summer Senate race, racial politics, and the possible WorSox.
Where the Stone Rolls in PawSox Deal
The rhetoric about who pays what on the proposed PawSox stadium is just that (rhetoric); at the end of the day, the state is entering into a boatload of debt without voter approval for an insider deal.
On Losing the PawSox
Losing the PawSox seems mainly to be a worry of RI’s decision-making elites, but the best thing Rhode Island could do is to make it clear that it has decided to get back to basics and get itself onto a better path.
Taxation
Heavy-Handed Totalitarian Measure Seen as Preemptive Strike to Force Truckers to Pay Future Tolls
In a heavy-handed edict, reminiscent of soviet-style totalitarianism, the state of Rhode Island considered restricting the free-flow of goods and commerce by restricting trucker traffic on secondary roads this week.
Center Blasts Newest Truck Toll Tyranny; RIDOT’s Laughable Denial
It has come to light that, on August 11, RIDOT *corrected* requested a hearing, scheduled for today, to issue commercial truck route restrictions within the state. The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity (for whom I am Communications Manager) has just issued a statement strongly condemning this. It says, in part,
Will Voters Turn Back the Progressive Tide in Special Senate Election?
Rhode Island progressives’ extremist agenda can no longer be denied.
Unions
Heavy-Handed Totalitarian Measure Seen as Preemptive Strike to Force Truckers to Pay Future Tolls
In a heavy-handed edict, reminiscent of soviet-style totalitarianism, the state of Rhode Island considered restricting the free-flow of goods and commerce by restricting trucker traffic on secondary roads this week.
Center Blasts Newest Truck Toll Tyranny; RIDOT’s Laughable Denial
It has come to light that, on August 11, RIDOT *corrected* requested a hearing, scheduled for today, to issue commercial truck route restrictions within the state. The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity (for whom I am Communications Manager) has just issued a statement strongly condemning this. It says, in part,
State House Report with John DePetro, No. 21: The Way It Works in RI
For my weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WADK 1540 AM show, last week, the topics were the Montanaro connection, the “free tuition” lottery, and the gubernatorial race.
Welfare
Will Voters Turn Back the Progressive Tide in Special Senate Election?
Rhode Island progressives’ extremist agenda can no longer be denied.
Free Market Solutions Help Rhode Islanders To Achieve Their Hopes & Dreams
We simply spend too much. With no major reforms and by capitulating to the progressive agenda, the 2018 state budget will be even more destructive for the people of Rhode Island.
On Medicaid “Cuts”… Et Tu, Ted Nesi?
Seriously… I really don’t want to pick these fights, but what good is reporting on federal health care legislation that gives the opposite impression from the truth?
