The Stephen Hopkins Center birthday celebration for Milton Friedman raised questions of justice and virtue.
Re-entry programs for ex-convicts provide a valuable service, but some think they’re compromising public safety, with big dollars flowing in behind.
A New York Times op-ed gets a little too close to the edge of politicizing math education, for Justin.
Even more context for President Obama’s Roanoake speech produces even worse context, in Justin’s view.
Audio from Justin’s Tuesday appearance on the Dan Yorke Show.
Apparently, just as the silver lining of the recession was that men lost most of the jobs, allowing women to catch up as a percentage of the workforce, the dark side of the recovery is that men are claiming most of the “new” jobs.
A new study of teenage unemployment, with an eye on public policy such as the minimum wage, suggests that we might be failing young adults.
The grammatical debate over President Obama’s “you didn’t build that” remark risks trivializing the core dispute, which Justin sees as definitional for our times.
Independence Day ought to entail reading the Declaration and pondering the relevance that it should have in our times.
A Gallup poll finding American confidence in public schools at an all-time low also points to a disconnect between Americans’ opinions of various institutions and the priorities of government.
Reviewing the latest budget in terms of RI’s rankings according to various criteria puts the state’s choice of decline or turnaround in clear terms.
In Justin’s view, the similarities between Netroots and Rhode Island extend to similar internal contradictions.
Continuing talk of the “skills gap” in RI’s labor force (with the call for more resources) further defines the extent to which advocates are on the wrong path entirely.
News media too often goes for the flash, but Justin suggests that the impulse begins with the audience.
During no period, from 1965 to 2000, did young, single college graduates increase in number in Rhode Island, according to the U.S. Census.
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.
A jumble of news and commentary headlines leads Justin to wonder where the cause and effect lie in entitlement and nanny-statism.
Tax breaks for artists raise the question of why all Rhode Islanders shouldn’t have more control over their own destinies
The intricate machinations suggested by Gary Sasse in the “tax-the-rich” debate raise the question of whether RI can afford the risk (or the wait) involved with technocratic designs.
Is it the bull or the bear for Rhode Island? Justin suggests that if Rhode Island is to cease to be a drag on its region, the model has to be quite different.
The process for selecting charter review commissioners in Central Falls has Justin concerned that an important lesson in self-governance is being missed.
Operating in RI government is like following directions based on where things used to be; Justin says outsiders are disadvantaged and vulnerable.
An interview with Charles Murray leads Justin to muse on the possibility that avoiding judgmentalism in the name of tolerance might just make it less likely that others will have the opportunity to judge us good and worthy of advancement.
Couples who are engaged when they move in together are more likely to stay married than those who are not, but interesting gender differences in the survey data suggest that it matters whether one spouse has been married before.
Matt Allen’s petition for repeal of the primary-offense seat belt law leads Justin to consider the real consequence of such legislation.
Colleen Conley finds a metaphor for D.C. in the Hunger Games; Justin hopes it indicates a shift in political understanding.
Three incidents of public-school censorship lead Justin to conclude that “offense” is trumping a heritage that fostered social health and progress.
Justin points out the interesting contrast of two opinion pieces in Tuesday’s Projo, one an unsigned editorial and the other a column by Ed Achorn.
Democrats in Congress are looking to slow the expanding cost of financing college while people are beginning to notice the questionable priorities of the institutions that ultimately collect their money. Justin suggests that it would be better to rethink the entire system.