Justin Katz
Two lines of debate in the battle of Left versus Right cross frequently. One is the question of whether history has an inexorable pull toward which it progresses, making it possible for there to be a “right side” of history that one can predict beforehand for a given issue. The other is whether one’s side…
Retired Providence Journal political columnist M. Charles Bakst has offered, via Ted Nesi’s Saturday column, a cute analysis of how both Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren could wind up in the U.S. Senate next session. While RI’s mainstream press ponders hypotheticals about the Senate race next door, Rhode Island blogger and Cornell law professor William…
Last night, I attended the first organizational meeting for the Tiverton branch of Sakonnet Toll Oppostion Platform (STOP), a cross-community effort to stop the state of Rhode Island from placing a toll on the Sakonnet River Bridge. If I was skeptical about the ability of residents to prevent the tolls before, I’m pretty well convinced that…
Yesterday, the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC), a venerable Rhode Island policy “voice and catalyst” founded in 1932, released a report analyzing the structure of the state’s quasi-public Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and suggesting a reorganization. Governor Lincoln Chafee requested the report in May, following the scandalous collapse of 38 Studios, which had been the…
Mainly on media culpability and the economy: RIPEC’s unquestioned report; skewed polls; the president’s reportorial zombies; and the reluctance to invest in the economy. Continue reading on the Ocean State Current…
Believing the political worst of priests; spinning bad SAT results; the skill of being trainable; the strange market valuation in Unionland. Continue reading on the Ocean State Current…
In the battle of hidden video and archived recordings that is sure to characterize political campaigns during the digital age, audio emerged from a 1998 presentation by then-state-senator Barack Obama at Loyola University in Illinois. The statement that made headlines (at least on the center-right side of the media) was now-President Obama’s belief in economic…
Many faces of big government: standardized tests; interest group buy-offs; government as marketing practice; and the United States of Panem. Continue reading on the Ocean State Current…
Returning RI to its natural state; RI as a playground for the rich; the gimmick of QE; the gimmick of digital records; killing coal/economy; when “Mostly False” means true. Continue reading on the Ocean State Current…
The narrative of the candidates; death panels and pension boards; the endgame of government debt; an enemies list. Continue reading on the Ocean State Current…