The Minneapolis policeman is entirely responsible for his actions, and justice should be served, but that doesn’t mean that political rhetoric didn’t play a role in George Floyd’s death.
Comparing statistics of fatal shootings by police illustrates the problem with comparing the United States with other countries, or even states with each other.
Religious freedom is critical toward our nation’s greatness, and it requires all of us to defend our religious freedom and uphold our religious virtues.
RI’s curve is approaching ZERO! States across America are opening without problem, protesters are allowed large gatherings, jobs and the economy are booming nationally… yet, our RI summer remains locked down. Why?
The Governor has just extended the “state of emergency” and the General Assembly has failed to act on its authority to end this madness, sitting idly by while the wreckage continues to mount.
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.
One problem with technology and automation is that it makes intimate knowledge of the object being automated easier to miss.
When President Trump behaves exactly in his famous character as a crass New York City businessman and says something he shouldn’t, we have to weigh that against the full mass of a movement in which opposition is illegitimate.
My latest essay on Dust in the Light is a reflection on how we can begin to come together to find a better way forward for our society.
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for June 1, included talk about:
I’ll be on again Monday, June 8, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.
With about one-billion dollars in anticipated revenue shortfalls, and with recent statements from leading Rhode Island lawmakers indicating a general feeling of helplessness, the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity published a new report this week with proven budget strategies that can help put the state on a long-term trajectory towards prosperity.
The CDC’s current best estimate of the survival rate of COVID-19 is 99.6%. This is a new high for the reported survival rate which has been climbing for weeks.
Progressives’ dedication to narrative over facts ensures that we’ll keep seeing incidents transformed into social turmoil.
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for May 27, included talk about:
I’ll be on again Monday, June 1, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.
As we claw back our liberty little by little in the months ahead, we must adjust for the degree to which our opinions (and those of our neighbors) can be swayed by the Zeitgeist.
Governor Raimondo’s detailed regulations for “faith-based organizations” to reopen should be offensive to a free people (even if not personally religious) because of what she apparently believes about religion and about us.
Turning anecdote into fearful narrative is a disservice from our information institutions.
In a prior post, I had noted that the survival rate of COVID-19 in the United States is 94%. I was mistaken. In fact, the survival rate is 98.7%. From Health Affairs:
The IFR-S in the US was estimated to be 1.3% …. The overall IFR for COVID-19 should be lower when we account for cases that remain and recover without symptoms.
In an open letter to Governor Gina Raimondo, religious leaders in Rhode Island begin to insist that engaging in religious worship is not a non-critical leisure activity, but an essential activity for human life.
We shouldn’t look for meaning in coincidences or the situations of our lives so much as the opportunity to develop a sense of relationship.
“The Emperor’s New Clothes” is a story affirming that there is such a thing as truth, even when people are tricked or bullied into pretending otherwise.
The second essay on my newly reconstituted Dust in the Light observes that journalists, local activists, and all of us trying to go about our lives are making it clear that we really do live in different universes
The desire to open up the economy isn’t selfish or reckless; it’s humanitarian.
Our very different Easter experience this year presents an opportunity to ask our elected officials to renew their vows, so to speak.
There may still be a few readers out there who’ll remember that I got my blogging start with a site called Dust in the Light nearly 20 years ago. When a few of us began Anchor Rising a couple years later, I tried to keep up Dust in the Light for a while, with more of a national and social-issue. Then, not long after the Ocean State Current started, time just didn’t allow for all that differentiating of content.
Nowadays, a little bit of time freed up, but more important, there are some things I want to write about that just don’t fit on the Current. Sometimes I’ve tried to force them in, but the fit isn’t quite there.
So, I’ve revived Dust in the Light for philosophical and theological essays and maybe the odd bit of stylistic writing. Not only are these styles and topics that I miss as a writer, they are also increasingly missing from the public square, from what I’ve seen. (It doesn’t have to be a solo effort, by the way, so if you want to send me content, I’ll consider it and, per my usual practice, draft you as an independent contributor as soon as I think it’s reasonable.)
My first essay is “Coronavirus Earth,” about the ways in which life under COVID-19 has been “clarifying many ideas with experience that were previously abstract.”
The governor only has her dictatorial authority to micromanage every organization and civil right in our state if the rest of us pretend along with her.